An Unexpected Meeting
by Sadesco
Summary: While Sam and Dean are following up on a case their father left them, they have an unexpected meeting. The question is are they friend or foe? Part 1 of the War Stories Saga DeanOC Rated M for some language and for future content.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - An Unexpected Meeting**

**CRAWFORD, IOWA – 5:20pm**

Dean looked down at his brother as he twitched in his sleep. Dean wasn't really sure how Sam could sleep in that position but upon considering it, both of them had learned to take their sleep when they could. The Impala's motor hummed and Led Zeppelin sung quietly on the stereo in a rather lulling fashion.

Dean studied the horizon. There was nothing but fields of corn on every side of him. You had to love Iowa for its unwavering devotion to corn. The only problem was that with nothing to break up the monotony Dean was starting to feel fatigue sneak up on him. He resettled himself in his seat trying to energise his weary body and looked in all the mirrors just for something to do. As he glanced away from the rear view he saw a spec on the long black road behind him.

Thinking his tired eyes were playing tricks on him he looked again. Sure enough he could see a car on the horizon some distance behind him. It wasn't really that notable it was just something that he could occupy his mind with to make sure he was still awake. Every minute or so he would look to the rear view mirror and see that the car was behind him. Not only was it behind him, but it was gaining on him. Considering that Dean only knew two speeds, stop and 'bat outta hell' he was fairly impressed. Who ever was driving must have had the pedal glued to the floor.

As the car got closer, Dean looked at it again in the mirror his jaw dropped. Just behind his bumper was one of the most pristine 1969 Mustang Fastback he had ever seen in his life. In the afternoon light he could see that the Mustang was painted in a French Blue and while he couldn't see the detailing he imagined that it would be in grey or silver to offset the rich blue.

In an out of character gesture, Dean eased his foot off the Impala's accelerator just to let the Mustang get a little closer so that he could get a better look. As if sensing his intentions the driver of the Mustang pulled close to the Impala then crossed to the other side of the road to overtake the black beast. Dean watched as the piece of American motoring history drove past him. The windows were tinted too dark for him to see inside, but just looking at the beautifully preserved car made him feel that there were still a few good things in this world.

Dean was tempted to wake Sam as the Mustang pulled in front of him, but then he thought better of it. The moment would certainly be lost on his brother, but Dean was grateful that he had been driving so he could see it. Not wanting to loose the Mustang, Dean hit the gas again and the power under the hood pulled the Impala eagerly forward.

The driver of the Mustang must have been watching him in the mirror because in response to his sudden burst of speed the Mustang jumped forward as more power was applied to the ponies under the bonnet.

"Son of a bich…" muttered Dean pushing the Impala to keep up with the Mustang. This was now a matter of pride. The Mustang was pretty and all, but there was no way that it could ever outrun the grunt of the Impala.

Sam stirred in the seat next to him looking blearily out at the landscape flying past them.

"Hey Man" he questioned his voice groggy "We're are we?"

"About 40 miles out of Aspinwall."

Sam looked at his brother who was leaning forward in his seat in an effort to make the Impala go faster.

"Is there some reason why we are trying to set a land speed record?"

Dean glanced sideways at him, feeling slightly frustrated that he had to fill him in on the situation.

"That Mustang passed us a little while back; I'm just trying to catch up."

Sam starred at his brother a little confused "Um….Why?"

"Because." said Dean in a manner that suggested that was all the answer that was required.

"Dean man…just let it go." said Sam trying to settle back into his seat, but feeling somewhat perturbed by the excessive speed that his brother was doing. Dean usually drove fast, but what he was doing now was well beyond Sam's comfort zone.

"Dean! I'm serious" said Sam starting to get slightly irritated. "We don't want to draw the attention of the local authorities."

Dean looked at his brother irritated again as he backed his foot off the accelerator. If there had been anything that Sam could have said to convince him to slow down, he had found it. The logic of Sam's words had gotten past Dean's pride, but he wasn't happy about it.

"Fine, but I wan't you to acknowledge that if the situation had been different I could have taken that Mustang."

Sam laughed slightly "Whatever man."

"No. No," said Dean banging on the steering wheel "I want you to say it, or I floor this baby until we catch that son of a bitch."

"Ok" said Sam still working hard to suppress a smile "I'm sure if circumstances were different you would have kicked that Mustangs arse. Are you happy now?"

"No" muttered Dean feeling the flow of adrenaline circulate through his body to revitalise him.

They drove on in silence, the sun getting low in the sky as they travelled. Half an hour later they pulled into Aspinwall, a tiny little town surrounded by massive expanses of farm land. Main St ran right through the centre of town and as they headed down towards the tiny gas station. Sam nudged Dean to look across the road at the Mustang parked out the front of the Mom & Pop Diner.

Dean had whipped the Impala around so quickly that Sam was thrown around awkwardly in the seat.

"Dean…What are you doing?" he protested righting himself in the seat.

"We gotta eat don't we?" said Dean his focus purely on the Mustang.

Sam shook his head slightly "I thought the plan was to stop in Manning. It's only a few miles down the highway?"

"Yeah! Well I'm changing the plan." said Dean as he pulled into a car space two down from the Mustang.

Sam let out a heavy sigh. There were just some things about his brother that he would never understand.

"Look Sammy, I just want to check out the guy who's driving – that's all."

Sam turned and smiled at his brother. Dean was a pretty cool character in most circumstances. He had seen and hunted things that most people couldn't conceive of in their worst nightmares, but something about this driver had really gotten under his skin.

"Ok fine…Whatever." Sam said with resignation. Smiling the brothers got out and locked up the Impala. As they approached the door to the Diner, Dean saw a woman approach from the other side and hurriedly opened the door for her.

An attractive well groomed woman emerged through the door carrying a coffee and paper bag. When Dean held the door for her, she gifted him with a smile and thanked him. At the sound of her thick British accent, Dean raised his eyebrow in acknowledgement and nodded slightly as she walked past.

Expecting Dean to then go in, Sam made a move forward but instead of clearing the door, he walked clean into his brother who had paused to admire the English woman's 'assets' as she walked down the stairs. It was then that he noticed that she moved to the Mustang and his face fell from a look of appreciation to one of absolute shock.

"Ma'am, is that your car?" he asked almost choking on his words.

The woman looked up from where she was unlocking the car and smiled at him again as she tossed her long auburn hair over her shoulder.

"Yes it is." she said, again her crisp accent ringing out each word.

"Its beautiful." replied Dean somewhat dumbstruck.

"Thanks" replied the woman before slipping in behind the wheel and disappearing behind the nearly black window tinting.

Sam chuckled as the Mustang reversed and took off down Main Street, Dean watching enviously as it went.

"Oh that's not right. That is so not right, Sammy." muttered Dean

"What? That the man you expected to be driving that car turned out to be a woman?"

"No" moaned Dean as he slid into the Diner with Sam close behind him "That a fine piece of American motoring history is being driven by a foreigner. I bet she doesn't even know what she has…probably picked it because the colour was nice."

The brothers sat down at the nearest available booth and looked over the menus.

"So tell me again what we're doing here?" said Sam as he ran his eye over the menus.

"Dad wrote in his journal about a string of disappearances in Patterson. All of the disappearances were children and they all happened in October. He figured this out in 1997, and when he did his research he noticed that every 10 years in October Children would go missing around Patterson."

The two boys went suddenly quiet as the matronly waitress wandered over and took their order. After she had gone Dean leaned forward on the table speaking in a quiet voice.

"By the time Dad figured it out in 97, the disappearances had stopped and he didn't have any leads to go on, so he made a note is his journal to go back there in ten years time."

Sam nodded thoughtfully "So we're going back there to check this out?"

"Exactly" said Dean "I was looking through the missing person's database and I came across a report of a child who went missing last week. That's what reminded me about the note in Dad's journal."

"Did Dad say anything about what he thought it was?"

Dean shook his head slightly as he took a sip of his drink "Nope. He only identified a pattern. Five children, every October, every 10 years, going back for almost a century."

"Huh. That is weird. Doesn't sound like something feeding or anything does it?"

Dean looked at his brother over the edge of his class. "What makes you say that?"

"Well" said Sam leaning forward "It's always five. Usually things that hunt will just hunt until they are full no specific number just whatever they need to satisfy their hunger. No this sounds like something else."

Dean lifted his eyebrow in consideration of his brothers words "Could be…but at this point I don't think we can discount anything."

Their meals arrived and Sam got stuck into his meal with gusto.

"Sam" said Dean watching his brother devour his steak "It helps to take a breath between each mouth full you know."

"Sorry man." replied Sam his mouth half full "I'm just starving"

"No Kidding" muttered Dean focussing on his own meal.

The brothers ate in silence, both consumed with their own thoughts, finally the waitress bought around the bill and the boys got up to leave.

"So you want to find a place to stay in Manning or do you want to keep going." questioned Dean as they walked out to the car

"Let's keep going. I think we should get to Patterson as soon as we can. I want to try and get there before another kid goes missing."

Dean looked at his brother "Good point. Ok…you can drive for a bit and I'll get some shut eye." With that he tossed the keys to the Impala to his brother and gave him a cheeky smile before sliding into the passenger's seat.

The boys quickly filled the car up at the tiny gas station down the road and headed back to the highway. Sure enough within fifteen minutes of leaving Aspinwall they hit the city limits of Manning. A decidedly larger town than Aspinwall but still only a small country town, the highway almost cut it into two equal halves and ran right through the centre of town.

Dean starred aimlessly out the window, letting the quaint country buildings pass by him. He took no notice of the scenery until he saw the blue mustang parked out the front of a gas station.

"Son of a…." Dean muttered "That Mustang is worse than a bad penny, turns up everywhere."

"She's probably going to Des Moines or something." remarked Sam but Dean's attention was totally focused on the Mustang and its pretty driver.

The driver stood by the petrol pump watching the Impala drive by, she just stood there following the car with her eyes, but Dean felt slightly unnerved by it. This wasn't just someone who was people watching for something to do, she was pointedly watching them as they passed by.

Dean shook off the feeling and focused his eyes on the highway in front of them, the white lines and the tarmac racing under the wheels was quite lulling and eventually he drifted off to sleep.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - An Unexpected Meeting**

**MADISON, IOWA – 1:08am**

Dean was jolted awake by Sam cursing. It was pitch black outside and there was nothing but corn fields on either side of them.

"What? What is it?" questioned Dean rapidly looking around to try and get his bearings.

The car was slowing down and Sam was steering it over to the side of the road. Dean looked around him again and then he looked at Sam who had bought the car to a complete stop.

"Something's wrong." said Sam reaching down for the keys.

"What do you mean something's wrong" Dean looked at his brother accusingly "What did you do?"

"Me?" cried Sam "Nothing, the engine just gave out."

Sam turned the key and nothing happened, the engine didn't even cough up any spark of life.

"If you've done something to my car Sam, I swear I'll…." Dean couldn't even finish the sentence, hollow threats where not his thing.

Sam turned the key once more time.

"Nothing." he said defeated "Its dead."

Dean looked down at his watch. It was hard to read in nearly no light but he thought that it said it was just after 1am – so there would be no calling for a tow any time soon either. He looked out the windows, looking at the fields with a predator's eye.

"What are you doing?" said Sam watching him scan their surroundings.

"Making sure there aren't any demonic scarecrow type things in any of these fields." Dean replied as he pushed the passenger door open and got out of the car.

"Pop the hood would you." he called to Sam as he went to the trunk to get a flashlight.

Dean shone the light down on the Impala's engine. He kept the engine clean and he worked on it whenever business would let him, mind you he hadn't serviced it in some time. There was no steam coming off the engine so he was fairly certain it wasn't the radiator. He was pretty vigilant about keeping the water reservoirs full so he discounted that quickly.

He opened up the oil cap on the engine, careful not to burn his hands on the hot metal. When he shined the light down the cavity, he could clearly see oil in the engine. That wasn't always the best test, not on a hot engine but because he kept a really close eye on the oil he was fairly certain it wouldn't be anything related to that, unless they had a leak or something.

To satisfy his curiosity, Dean got down on his hands and knees and lay flat on the road, shinning the flash light up under the engine to see if he could see anything that would indicate that they had a leak.

"What do you think?" said Sam hanging out of the driver's window.

"Not sure." said Dean getting to his feet and dusting his hands off on his jeans.

He looked again at the engine under the torch light.

"Just try turning it over again?" he instructed and waited as Sam's head disappeared in the car again.

Dean heard the key turn in the ignition, but there was nothing, not even a cough that would indicate that there was any sort of spark hitting the engine.

"Anything?" said Sam leaning out of the window again.

"Nope" said Dean turning to lean against the side of the Impala "I'm guessing that it's the alternator but I can't really be sure in this light. But we ain't going anywhere tonight. What was last town we went through?"

"We past through Greenfield about half an hour ago" said Sam as he pulled the map into his lap. Dean went and stood by the driver's window so that he could shine the light onto the map.

"Winterset is the next town. Where would you say we are." said Dean scrutinising the map.

"If I had to hazard a guess I'd say we are probably smack bam in between them."

"Ok" said Dean mentally going through the steps in his head "We wait until someone else comes along, wave them down and get a lift into Winterset."

"Hate to burst your bubble bro, but I haven't seen anyone else on the road for a little while now?"

Dean gave Sam and exasperated look.

"I guess we could hike back to Greenfield." suggested Sam

Dean did not look particularly enthused about that idea.

"How far would you say?"

Sam shrugged slightly "I don't know 10, 15 miles maybe."

"Oh Man." said Dean in frustration, kicking at the dirt under the car with his foot. "Should never have let you drive." he muttered "I always knew no good would come of it."

"Hey" protested Sam "This isn't my fault."

"Strange wouldn't you say that when I drive she doesn't miss a beat. But when you drive…" Dean left the sentence unfinished as he walked to the trunk to pull out his duffle.

"Dean" said Sam sharply pointing to a pair of headlights coming down the road towards them.

"What do you know." said Dean pulling an orange emergency light from the trunk and holding it high over his head.

The car coming towards them was flying and for a moment the boys thought that it probably wouldn't stop. They waved their arms to try and get the drivers attention, but it didn't seem to do any good.

At the last minute, the car pulled in sharply and parked in front of them. Then the reverse lights came on and the car backed up so that it was only a few feet from the open hood of the Impala.

Dean swung the flashlight on the car and to his amazement, the beam of light highlighted highly polished French blue.

"I don't believe it." said Dean as he watched the driver getting out of the car.

"Looks like you could use a little help." said the rich English accent into the quiet darkness. The speaker walker forward into the halo of light thrown by the flashlight and it revealed the pretty brunette from the Diner in Aspinwall.

"You're right about that." said Sam watching the woman opening the trunk of her car. "I don't suppose you could give us a lift to the next town."

"I could" said the young woman rummaging with the stuff in her trunk "But then you'd have to wait until morning for someone to be able to come back and get you, then you'd have to wait for repairs and lord only knows how long that could take." she stopped for a moment and looked up at Sam with a gentle smile on her face "And I get the impression that you are keen to get where you're going."

"So what do you suggest?" said Dean walking up next to Sam's shoulder making sure that he could easily reach the revolver that he had just slipped into the waistband of his jeans.

"Well, why don't we change out that alternator and get you back on the road." she said and then turned back into the trunk of her car, pulling out and impressive toolbox and placing it on the ground behind her car.

"Wait" said Dean suspiciously inching his hand around to the handle of the gun "How did you know it was the alternator?"

The woman paused with what she was doing as if she had to really think about her answer. "Let's just say that I have a bit of an instinct about these things."

"Changing the alternator is not going to help." said Dean signalling Sam with his eyes that something was very wrong about this scenario "I think the battery is shot."

"Well" said the woman pulling out a battery from the trunk of her car and laying it on the ground. "As luck would have it I have one of those too."

It was then that Dean went for the gun. In his business he didn't believe in coincidences and he sure as hell didn't believe in luck.

"Ok lady, who the hell are you?" he said pointing the revolver squarely at her.

The woman seemed slightly taken back at the sight of the gun, but she very carefully put her hands up to show that she was no threat.

"Take it easy. I was just trying to help you." she said looking between Dean and the barrel of the gun.

"That's not what I asked." snapped Dean "Who are you?"

"My name is Hannah. Hannah Riordan." At that the woman went for something in her jacket pocket, but paused when Dean re-aimed the gun at the centre of her chest.

"Don't" he snapped and a look of shock spread across her face.

"It's just my ID. I thought if you could see it, it might put you at ease."

Dean indicated with his head that she could keep going and she pulled a small wallet from her pocket and handed it to Sam.

"Dr Hannah Riordan." said Sam as he pulled her licence out of the wallet. "She looks to be telling the truth."

"Sam you and I have a hundred of those and they can be made to say anything." he said giving his brother a quick glance. "Answer me this Doc, why would a woman be driving around in the middle of the night with a whole heap of car parts that are not for her car?"

The woman sighed slightly "I guess you are not going to accept serendipity are you?" she said more to herself than for the benefit of the brothers.

"Look you probably aren't going to believe me, but sometimes I get and instinct about something, an idea that something is going to happen. I saw your car pass me in Manning and I got this feeling that your alternator would fail. Ok" she gave them both a look like she was waiting for them to laugh at her or berate her for what she had just said.

"That doesn't explain how you knew where we were?" questioned Dean, the harshness having gone from his voice.

"Actually I didn't know. That part was really just luck." she said sensing that Dean was relaxing slightly and letting her hands fall a little lower.

"So you bought car parts and a battery all the way from Manning just in case you came across us in trouble?" said Sam he eyebrows furrowing.

"Well" said Hannah smiling nervously "When you say it like that it does seem a little bit strange. Look sometimes my instincts just kind of tell me to do something and I don't question it anymore. More often than not I'm right"

Dean looked questioningly at Sam, the look telling his younger brother that he didn't like this situation at all. Meg had shown up coincidentally and she had bought all sorts of trouble down on the pair, now this woman shows up in the middle of nowhere with everything they need to get them back on the road again.

Sam looked back to his brother sharing his doubt about the woman's sudden appearance. Then he looked to the woman as an idea struck him.

"Christo" he said into the night watching to see if the woman shuddered. If she shuddered at the name of God then it would definitely indicate demonic influence, but she didn't shudder she just looked mildly surprise, then her look changed to suspicion.

"Why would you say that?" she quizzed her eyebrows lowering on her face in confusion "Who are you?"

The brothers exchanged looks again. Both agreed that she wasn't demonically possessed, but her reaction wasn't typical, yet neither of them spoke as they weighed up their options.

"Look" said Hannah finally "I don't want any trouble. How about you toss me my wallet and I'll get back in my car and we'll call it no harm no foul. You can keep your gun on me the whole time if you like?"

"No" said Dean cocking his head slightly "I have a better idea. How about you take a seat, and my brother's going to get some rope and make sure that you can't bother anyone while we change this alternator out."

The woman gave him an icy look from her blue grey eyes "How do I know that you won't hurt me or leave me here tied up?"

"Well" replied Dean cocking his head slightly "You don't. But if you want us to trust you, you're going to have to give us a little trust."

"Well I'm at something of a disadvantage here, and I'm not talking about the gun. You know who I am but you haven't introduced yourself."

Dean smiled at the woman "How rude of me. Sammy where are my manners" he turned his eyes back to the woman, his lips were smiling, but the smile didn't touch his eyes.

"I'm Dean" he said "And this is my brother Sam."

The woman looked between the two brothers as if weighing up Dean's plan, then having decided, she sat down on the road and put her hands on her head.

Sam hurried to the trunk and pulled out a set of handcuff and a handful of cable ties. Walking back to the mustang he started to slip the handcuff onto the woman's hands.

"I'm sorry" he said feeling slightly lame "But if you had seen half the things we have, you'd understand why we're doing this."

Hannah looked at him as he was binding her hands trying to get a read on him but she said nothing. After he had secured her hands, Sam slipped a cable tie through the links of the handcuffs and looped it around the tow ring just under the bumper of the mustang. Then he bound her feet with two more cable ties.

Once she was securely bound, Dean slipped the gun back into the waistband of his jeans and walked over to the toolbox that sat on the ground. The box was fire engine read and the Snap-On label ran on either side of it. He opened the toolbox and the tools inside gleamed in the light of the flashlight. They had either never been used, or this woman took very good care of them.

"Snap-ons" Dean said appreciatively "Very nice."

"Only the best" murmured Hannah as she watched him handle the tools inside the box almost reverently.

"Sam, come over here, your going to have to hold the flashlight for me" said Dean

"There is a work light in the boot." said Hannah, indicating with her head towards the trunk.

Dean reached over into the back of the mustang and pulled a large halogen light out of the back with a hook on it that could be hung from the hood. Turning it on he was surprised at how much light it actually threw and had to shield his eye briefly as they adjusted to the new light source.

"I gotta say Doc." said Dean hanging the light from a hole in the hood "You have all the best toys."

Dean looked at the engine, he was impressed that he could see so well and got to work removing the old battery. Sam stood on the other side of the car draping his tall frame on the edge and watching what Dean was doing in the engine. Occasionally he had to adjust himself so he didn't block the light.

Every now and then he looked over to the woman sitting in the shadows on the ground in front of them. He knew that she was paying attention to everything that they did, but she deliberately didn't make eye contact with either of them.

"It's a great car." Hannah ventured hesitantly. Being tied to the bumper of her car wasn't exactly how she had planned this all to go down, but her gut told her that these boys needed to reach their destination, and she had learnt now to trust those feelings implicitly; what ever it took, even if it took getting tied to her car.

"Thanks" said Dean as he hefted out the ruined battery and placed it on the ground.

"Is it a 68?" she questioned watching as he stuck his head back under the bonnet.

Dean looked up slightly surprised "No" he said smiling slightly "67"

"I love Chevys" Hannah said quietly "When I was first looking to buy a car I wanted a 69 Chevelle, but when I saw Charlotte, I couldn't go past her."

At this both Dean and Sam looked up at her in unison.

"You call your car Charlotte?" Sam asked unable to keep the amusement from his voice.

"Silly isn't it" said Hannah smiling nervously "I have this compulsion to name my cars, what can say? Apparently I'm also compelled to talk insensately when I nervous"

"Why are you nervous?" said Dean leaning deep into the Impalas engine to undo a nut.

"Well, I'm not sure if it has escaped your notice, but I'm handcuffed to the bumper of my car, in the company of complete strangers. That sort of thing tends to make me a little nervous."

"Doc, if you're on the level with us then we're not going to hurt you. We don't do that sort of thing." Dean paused for a moment "Well not often" he finished with a cheeky smile.

While Dean worked Sam watched the woman, his curiosity peaked. She was probably in her late twenties or early thirties, but there was an aspect to her that seemed very old. It certainly wasn't her looks, her hair was a shiny auburn and her skin creamy, but around her eyes there was wariness, a wisdom born of seeing too much. Sam had seen that sometimes when he looked at his brother, hell, he had seen it once or twice in the mirror but he definitely saw it in this woman.

"Have you always had visions?" Sam said quietly resting his chin on his hands.

Hannah laughed slightly but it lacked humour "No, not really. This is what you might call a recent development."

"How recent?" pressed Sam

"Oh, eighteen months or so" she turned her eyes up to Sam "You don't seem surprised by the possibility though" she seemed to study him intensely, almost as if she was looking right through him. It may have been a trick of the light, but Sam thought her eyes glow a little like molten mercury before she spoke again.

"No but you wouldn't be would you?" she muttered, almost to herself "You get them too."

Dean looked up sharply from what he was doing to look between his brother and the woman sitting on the ground before them. Sam's eyes were intent on the woman and she was scrutinising him with an intensity that unnerved him. He decided that the best thing he could do, was get on with what he was doing and get them the hell away from here and this freaky woman.

"How did it happen?" Sam asked without breaking the lock of her gaze.

"I don't know?" she whispered, and Sam felt in his gut that was a lie.

"Sam" said Dean sharply pulling Sam's focus away from the Doctor on the ground "Why don't you get in the car and wait for me to tell you to turn the engine over."

Without a word Sam moved away from the engine to slide into the driver's seat.

"So you're the eldest then?" said Hannah struggling to make her aching wrists comfortable.

"One of your visions tell you that?" said Dean pulling another tool out of the tool box

"No, your bossy nature told me"

Dean looked up slightly irritated. "Listen Doc, it's late, I'm tired and all I want to do is find a bed, so this whole thing would go much faster if you would just shut the hell up."

"Listen here wise guy, this whole thing would have gone a lot faster if you had just let me help you change it out." snapped Hannah, feeling largely unappreciated by now.

Dean let out an annoyed grunt and Hannah turned towards the trunk of her car determined not to engage either of them in conversation again. Minutes slipped by into an hour, until finally Dean asked Sam to start her up. The Impala coughed a couple of times and then roared into life.

"Alright!" said Dean jubilantly starting to pack away the tools "I am a car god!"

"How thrilling for you." said Hannah tersely "Do you mind untying me now?"

Dean put the toolbox in the back of the Mustang and hung the work light from the open trunk so that it cast the woman beneath it in stark light.

He squatted down on his haunches and pulled a flick knife from the pocket of his jeans, slicing the cable tie that was circled around Hannah's feet. Then he quickly cut the tie that secured the handcuffs to the bumper and extended his hand to Hannah to help her stand.

"Well thanks for your help Doc. I'm really sorry for handcuffing you down there. I hope you'll forgive me." with that he slipped the handcuff keys into her palm "And I sincerely hope that you forgive me for this."

With that said, Dean slipped the gun from his waistband and shot at the rubber on the Mustang's rear tyre.

"Aww…Come on!" said Hannah agitatedly, recovering quickly from the initial shock of the gun shot.

Sam leapt out of the car, "Dean! What the hell are you doing?"

"Get back in the car Sam." Dean said sternly his eyes still focussed on the Doctor "DO IT…NOW!"

Sam recognising the warning tone in Dean's voice and hurried around behind the car to climb into the passenger's seat.

"I really am sorry Doc, but I can't have you following us." As he spoke Dean backed up to the drivers door, with one deft movement he had slipped the gun back in his jeans and slid in behind the wheel, taking off with the screeching and smoking of tyre rubber.

Sam sat in the passenger seat starring at his brother "Are you Nuts!" he all but yelled "What, we're just going to leave her there?"

"I had to Sam." said Dean trying madly to defend himself "I couldn't have her following us."

"But she did nothing but help us and you shot out her tyre."

Dean looked again at his brother "Sam I didn't have a choice, there was something off about that woman and if I have to decide between her and us, well then I'm going to do everything that I need to do to look out for us."

"Justify it any way you want Dean" said Sam "You just stranded a woman, who was only trying to help us, out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, in absolute darkness."

A prick of guilt rose up in Dean at Sam's words "Come on Sammy, you're being a bit over dramatic aren't you. I didn't exactly strand her there. I just slowed her down, while she changes that tyre."

Sam glared at Dean "How do you know she can change a tyre? How do you even know that she has a spare?"

"Any woman who is driving around with a Snap-on toolbox and a auto work lamp is going to know how to change a tyre. I mean she knew what year the car was made for Christ sake"

"That may be true." argued Sam "But before you went all Dirty Harry on her tyre did you even check to see if she had a spare?"

Dean looked at Sam, guilt creeping across his face.

"Well did you?" challenged Sam

Dean rolled his eyes and looked back to the road. It was too late now anyway and he was not going to let Sam make him feel bad about his decision. He had done it for their safety and that always took priority, over everything.

Despite his resolve, Dean couldn't help start to wonder about the woman. He inadvertently began to play scenarios about all the things that could possibly happen to her through his head. Twice he nearly turned the car around, but stubbornly he forced himself to stick to his guns.

Sam didn't say a word to him, the whole trip. That only added to Dean's guilt and also made him feel a little indignant. Sam had the luxury of worrying about the fait of the freaky, mustang driving doctors, he didn't have their lives to think of. That was Dean's job, always Dean's job. Dean made the hard calls, and Sam could just sit back and judge him for it. After all, isn't that exactly what he did to their Father? Now it seemed he was doing it to Dean.

Dean drove straight through Winterset and headed east to Patterson. Close to the Patterson city limits he saw a motel by the side of the road and pulled into it. After organising a room with the surly night attendant, who was not all that impressed about being dragged from his bed in the middle of the night, Dean and Sam parked the Impala out the front of their room and went inside.

"Which bed do you want?" asked Dean trying to get more than a grunt from Sam

Sam shrugged slightly then walked sourly over to the furthest bed and through his duffel bag on it. Dean rolled his eyes skyward

"How long is this going go on Sam?"

"How long is what going to go on." muttered Sam without looking at his brother.

"The cold shoulder attitude you got going on at the moment?"

"Well excuse me Dean but, I'm a little bit pissed at you."

"OK" said Dean hesitantly "For a while longer I see."

Sam turned on the bed pinning his brother with angry eyes. "I just don't get you sometimes Dean. A woman comes along, who has visions, just like me, who knows that I have visions, who does nothing but help us and not only do you not let me talk to her, you shoot out her tyre for her trouble."

"Now hold up a minute." Dean retorted "What exactly would you have me do Sam?"

"I don't know?" said Sam raising his voice a little "Maybe we could have spoken to her a little more, found out more about her, more about her powers."

"Sam" said Dean exasperated "How did she know you have visions?"

Sam tried to respond but seemed suddenly stumped by the question.

"Don't know, do you?" said Dean walking to stand over his brother "Well I do. She was reading you like a supermarket tabloid."

Sam's face lost its colour and he swallowed the words that were rising in his throat.

"We have no idea whether that woman in a friend or not. She may be perfectly harmless and it could have been some freaky coincidence. But how many times is that the case for us?"

"Never." said Sam quietly

"That's right." said Dean pushing his point home. He'd had a lot of time to think about this in the car. "My first responsibility is to make sure that you and I are safe, and not worrying about someone who could potentially be a spy for the enemy."

Sam looked up at his brother somewhat crest fallen. He knew that Dean made sense but it still pricked his sense of fair play to hinder someone who had just helped them out of a really tight spot.

"Dean" he said quietly "Who is our enemy?"

Dean looked down at his brother, his face softening slightly "Bro, I'd be asking myself who isn't. It's a shorter list. Now get some sleep, we have to be up in a few hours and we got a lot of work to do."

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – An Unexpected Meeting**

Sam watched Dean jog across the road through the window of the diner. The bell on the front door heralded his arrival and soon Sam was looking at his brother across the table.

"How'd you go?" he said watching as Dean pulled a fist full of papers from his Jacket pocket.

"The local cops here a really nice." said Dean the cheeky expression on his face telling Sam that they were also young, attractive and female. "And they gave me a copy of the missing persons report on the last victim."

"So who were you this time, Federal Marshal?"

Dean shook his head slightly not really paying attention to what Sam was saying "No…FBI."

Sam smiled and shook his head slightly, it never ceased to amaze him just what identities they could get away with.

"Check this out." said Dean turning the papers around so that he could point out the details to Sam "The last child abducted, was a boy twelve years old, disappeared last week after a baseball game with a bunch of local kids."

"Do the police have any leads?" questioned Sam, looking at the photo of the boy and reading the details on the missing persons form.

"The police aren't even counting it as an abduction. They reckon the boy is more likely a runaway and he'll probably turn up in a day or two."

"What makes them think that?" said Sam looking at Dean across the table.

"Apparently, this kid doesn't get on so well with his folks.

"So" said Sam "A lot of kids don't get on with their folks, that doesn't exactly mean that they'll jump on the next greyhound."

"Well" explained Dean "Kid's got something of a history. He's taken off over night before, but never for this long. That is why his mom put in this missing persons report."

"What about the disappearances 10 years ago?"

Dean cocked his head slightly "Seems that they had a group of runaways back then too. The kid that went missing first was older and something of a ring leader for a local group of kids, they think that the others followed him when he ran away to the city."

"Convenient, wouldn't you say?" said Sam slightly

"Well I can hardly blame the locals for not seeing the pattern." said Dean leaning back in his chair. "They're completely out of their depth here. The worst things these guys have to deal with is local teenagers cow tipping and someone doing more than 25 down Main Street. How about you, you find anything?"

"Patterson has a surprisingly good library and local archive, so I came up with a couple of things. There was very little about the group that disappeared in 97 – I'm not surprised that Dad didn't get here in time, there was almost nothing in the local papers about it.

"Weird! Even if they were runaways, you'd think the local paper would have covered it" muttered Dean signalling to the waitress to get him some coffee,

"Well I went back in the archives about the previous kids. In 87 a brother and a sister were abducted together, they were seen walking home from school which is in town, but they never made it home."

"Ok! I'm sure there is something more to this."

Sam smiled at his brother "Ten years earlier the houses belonged to a different family, the Peterson family, who sold the house after the disappearance of their son."

"Ok, there is a connection between those three kids, but what about the rest of them?" said Dean scanning through the copies of news reports that Sam had pulled from his bag.

"Well I went back and plotted if there was any eyewitness accounts of where the kids were, or if there was an address on the family home and all the kids come from the same area."

Dean's brow furrowed "What do you mean?"

Sam produced a local map from his bag, a dark circle was drawn on it filled with black and red dots.

"See this area. Most of the disappearance that I could track down ether had the child seen or living within this area."

Dean studied the black circle on the map, the circle was probably about 4 miles in diameter.

"What are you suggesting that this is something like a hunting ground?"

Sam shrugged slightly "Maybe?"

"Well, let's see if your theory holds weight. The kid that disappeared last week, lived on Upland Avenue."

Sam studied the map closely then triumphantly put his finger on the map, Upland avenue just fell inside the dark circle on the map. Dean's eyebrows raised slightly.

"Alright smart ass, so it is a hunting ground." Sam nodded at the sound of his brother's concession "But a hunting ground for what?"

The bothers shared a look of understanding.

"I guess there is only one way to find out" said Sam.

And with that both stood. Dean pulled a couple of bills from his pocket and threw it down on the table, while Sam collected their research material. Then both headed out to where the Impala was parked on the street.

* * *

Hannah had been driving down the road when she felt an all too familiar sensation. It was a pull in her gut, an itching behind her eyelids that she could get no relief from. She pulled Charlotte over to the side of the road and rubbed her eyes slightly to try and ease the irritation in them. Looking up, instead of the usual farm land common to the area, Hannah had pulled her car over next to some bushland. She opened the door of her car and faced the wooded area, she felt the pull strongest here. Facing up the road and back where she had come from, she doubled checked, but her feelings were strongest facing the woodland. Carefully she locked up Charlotte and walked down into the trees.

* * *

"You know, it's a good theory that you've got their Sammy, but I just don't know what we're supposed to be looking for?" said Dean as he pulled onto Timber Ridge Road.

"I was hoping that something would sort of stand out of the ordinary." Sam said meekly.

"We could drive around like this forever Sam and still not figure out what is going on. I say we go back to town and see if we can't dig something else up."

"Dean, the next kid is due to be taken and we know that they will either live or be in this area."

Dean sighed slightly frustrated by their apparent dead end and then he rounded the bend. On the side of the road a French blue mustang was parked not far from a little wooded area. Dean swung the Impala in behind it.

"That's a little out of the ordinary wouldn't you say." said Dean reaching across Sam to pull a gun out of the glove compartment.

Slipping quietly out of the car, Dean moved up close to the Mustang. He looked at the rear tyre and could clearly see that it didn't match the other three. He moved up beside the car and placed his hand on the hood, the engine was only slightly warm indicating that the car had been sitting for a little while.

Sam stood looking into the wooded area trying to see any signs of the Mustang's driver but the small wooded area was quite dense and he couldn't make out anything. Dean took a step towards what looked like a natural path through the brush and Sam fell into step behind him.

They walked slowly into the woods, the light lessening the deeper in they got until eventually they could see a figure crouched down a little way in front of them. Dean signalled that they should be quiet and together the brothers stalked on silent feet up to the crouched figure on the ground.

Without signalling that she knew of their presence the couching figure suddenly spoke "Well if it isn't Gulliver and Quick Draw McGraw."

Hannah stood up taking a small amount of satisfaction at the shocked expression on the two men's faces.

"What do you say Quick Draw" she said caustically "been attacked by any rampant tyres today, perhaps a cranky whitewall?"

Dean couldn't help smiling slightly, he had to admit the girl had sass, but it didn't stop him from pointing the gun at the centre of her chest.

"And we're back to this." said Hannah, her voice showing how completely unimpressed she was by the whole situation.

"What do you know about the missing kids?" said Dean watching her carefully down the barrel of the gun he held.

"Missing kids?" she questioned her confusion genuine "I don't know anything about any missing kids?"

"If your not here for the kids, then why are you here?" said Sam

Hannah cocked her head to the side looking slightly irritated "I read Bridges of Madison County when I was at University and I had to come down and see them for myself."

"Give me a break" said Dean "What are you really doing here?"

Hannah gave him a cold stare "Why would I tell you? It is not like you've inspired a sense of collaboration or anything." her tone was dripping with sarcasm and Sam almost winced.

"Well perhaps you'll find the fact that I have a gun pointed at you incentive enough." said Dean responding to her tone in kind.

For a moment Hannah's eyes went from blue to molten mercury and she walked purposefully forward until she was mere inches from the barrel of the gun.

"Go ahead and shoot me" she said icily "But if you do it, you better make bloody sure that you put me down or I might just have to retaliate."

Dean felt a prickling sensation at the back of his neck and a knot of fear unfurl in his stomach. Not a lot frightened him anymore, but the bold move of this woman, had certainly unnerved him.

"Bold words, Doc." he said trying to swallow so that his throat wasn't so dry

"Think I'm bluffing" she said a wicked smile touching her lips "Pull the trigger and let's find out."

Before Dean could respond, the Doctors head came up, like a hound that had just spotted quarry. Sam also, turned his attention away from the conversation and out into the wooded area, like he had heard something. There they stayed for a heartbeat before turning to look at each other.

"You felt that too?" said Sam watching the woman nod in confirmation. Both started to move into the woods walking away from Dean as if he were forgotten. Dean stood silent for a moment watching the two of them stride purposefully into the woods, he looked briefly down at his gun, wondering when the hand cannon had lost its entire intimidation factor, and then he followed a few steps behind the other two.

They walked with their attention focused in front of them, like they were trying to hear something in the brush. Dean strained his senses but he couldn't for the life of him work out what they were following.

"Here" whispered Hannah, dropping to her haunches and placing her palm on the ground. Sam followed her lead, leaving Dean completely bemused behind them.

"Here what?" Dean whispered, but neither his brother nor the doctor even acknowledged that he spoke, they just kept looking out with their palms pressed into the leaf litter.

"Here what?" he repeated his voice becoming louder with his growing agitation.

Hannah looked angrily at him over her shoulder and with a speed that surprised him; she had reached out and grabbed his wrist. As soon as her palm made contact with his skin, Dean felt pain.

Not the pain of injury, but the kind of sympathetic pain you sometimes feel when you watch others have an accident. It is more the understanding of pain than the sensation. He also felt anger and animosity. Above all, he felt violence, a violence so terrible it left him feeling cold.

"What the hell?" he muttered to no one in particular.

Hannah let go of his wrist and immediately the sensation washed out of him, she pushed up off her feet and started to look around the immediate area, in bushes and thickets. Sam and Dean exchanged a look of confusion as they watched her hunting.

"Kids you said?" she said looking deep into a thicket.

Sam stood and started to move over to where she was looking, with Dean close behind him. Hannah thrust her hand in the thickets and looked like she was wrestling with something, until a pair of shiny handlebars emerged from the bush. All three exchanged looks confirming their worst fears.

"So much for the running away theory." said Dean raising his eyebrows to Sam.

Both boys turned their eyes back to the Doctor who had closed her eyes and taken hold of the handle bars of the bike. She looked to be concentrating really hard, but she let it go in exasperation.

"Something bad happened here, but I can't quite get a take on it." she looked up to Sam "Do you want to try?"

"I'm not sure that I even know how. This is the first time I've ever felt something like this before." confessed Sam.

Hannah's expression seemed to soften slightly "Just take a hold of the bike and see if you get any impressions."

Sam reached out and flexed his big hands around the handle of the bike, he closed his eyes as Hannah had done and tried to focus on the metal in his hands. At first he felt nothing, but then he had a vague sense of tumbling and darkness, he had the same sense of danger and malevolence that he had felt on the ground, but it was too remote to make out.

Sam shook his head in frustration "I get nothing really, just a sensation of falling and darkness."

"Was it darkness like a cave" pressed Hannah "Or darkness like night?"

"Like night." said Sam with a certainty that he did not feel.

"Ok would one of you please explain, what the hell is going on here? I mean if I didn't feel it myself I would have thought you two were nuts." said Dean looking between the two of them.

"Some researchers speculate that when a person dies a hyper violent death, the violent energy clings in the area for a while, something like an echo." said Hannah heading back towards the road.

"Man those are some pretty screwed up researchers." muttered Dean

"So what we were feeling was the echo of that boy's death" questioned Sam

"Probably" replied Hannah as she strode through the woods

"I know why wonder boy here could feel it" said Dean walking on the other side of the doctor "But how'd I feel it when you grabbed my wrist."

"Well technically you weren't feeling it" replied Hannah "You were feeling what I felt. Sometimes, not always, but on occasion, I can act as a conduit. It isn't very reliable, but I guess we got lucky this time."

"People die all the time" questioned Sam "Why aren't there echoes all over the place."

"In truth I don't know that much about it. It isn't my field of expertise, but from what I understand, an echo is left after a hyper violent death."

"Yeah" said Dean grabbing a hold of her arm and turning her around to face him "You said that before. What is a hyper violent death?"

Dean looked at the woman, he stood slightly taller than she did, but something about her intimidated him a little, which Dean found strange, usually women didn't unnerve him at all. In fact when it came to the fairer sex he was next to fearless.

"Hyper violence is generally considered a death that is prolonged. There is often a torture element, where the victim is allowed to come to the realisation that they are going to die in a horrible and painful way."

Hannah shrugged a careless shoulder

"A lot of cultures believe that death coming from this kind of hyper violence attracts a huge amount of power. Think about it, most of the cultures that practiced human sacrifice never made it quick and painless, it was often prolonged, sometime by weeks."

Sam's face seemed to have paled slightly "Is that what you think happened here?"

"Now hold up Gulliver. That's not what I said. You guys asked a question and I answered it. Nothing more" Hannah said walking towards Charlotte

"But it's a possibility?" said Dean following her up the track

"The only thing I know for sure, is that whatever happened, it happened at night and I don't know about you, but I'd like to take a little bit more time to think this over in my head before I go charging back into those woods."

"So you are just going to leave then?" questioned Sam

"Look. I'm starving, I didn't get to eat breakfast this morning because I was too damn busy organising a new tyre for my car and I would really like to get some lunch." Hannah said slightly exasperated.

"The next kid is due to be taken anytime soon." said Dean

"Well then we better work this out then." With that she opened Charlotte's door and put one foot in the car. Dean and Sam just stood watching her, slightly confused by everything that had just happened.

"Well are you coming or not?" she called back over her shoulder as she slid in behind the wheel and turned the engine of her car over.

Sam looked at Dean, who returned his look of despair then shrugged slightly and went to get in the Impala.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – An Unexpected Meeting**

The two brothers sat opposite the Doctor in the diner watching as she looked over the menu. When the waitress came to take their orders, she ordered a tea and a sandwich and the brothers ordered burgers and cokes, then the party of three sat sizing each other up.

"Alright" said Hannah, breaking the drawn out silence falling between them. "Tell me what you know."

Sam looked to Dean to see if he had any issues with sharing with this woman what they knew. Dean just shrugged slightly and leaned back in the booth.

"Every 10 years, in October kids go missing in this area." Hannah leaned forward concentrating as Sam spoke "Not just one kid, but 5."

"5?" she said tilting her head slightly and watching as Sam nodded "And always in October?"

"That's right."

"The tenth month of every tenth year" she said musing to herself "That's interesting. Do you know how long this has been going on?"

Sam reached into his bag and pulled out the research that he had acquired form the library that morning and handed it to Hannah who thumbed through it.

"I found accounts dating back all the way to the turn of the century. Who ever is doing this has been doing this for a really long time."

Silence stretched as Hannah looked through the articles and documents. "The recent accounts are really sketchy" she said an element of awe in her voice "However did you come across this pattern?"

"Actually our Dad worked it out?" said Sam his voice catching slightly as he spoke about his father. Hannah looked up not missing the discordant note in his voice.

"Your Dad?" she questioned gently

"This is kind of our families business" said Sam looking away sharply to try and hide the hurt he knew was obvious on his face.

"What? Finding lost children?" said Hannah looking between the brothers

"Something like that" interjected Dean quickly "Now you know why we're here, why don't you explain why you're here?"

Hannah held his gaze for a little while as if she was trying to see through him and then she sighed heavily and sat back in her seat.

"I'm hunting for a book." she said simply and the boys looked at her as if she had just grown a second head.

"Not just any book though. A book of power, a book that in the wrong hands could unleash an evil like you've never known."

"I don't know Doc" interrupted Dean "I've known a lot of evil things in my time."

"A book?" questioned Sam "What sort of a book?"

"A book of belief and rituals, a grimoire to be more precise." she said watching the boys closely

"A grimoire?" questioned Dean "Like a spell book?"

Hannah seemed suddenly tired "Yes something like that."

"And you think one of them is here?" Dean said sitting back to let the waitress deliver his food.

Hannah didn't answer she just nodded her head, seeming to wilt just a little more in her seat.

"Tell me" asked Sam narrowing his eyes "What does a doctor need with a grimoire?"

"I'm not an MD." she said realising their misunderstanding "I have a PhD in anthropology. That's where the Doctor comes in."

"When you said you didn't know how you got your powers you lied didn't you?" As Sam spoke it was more of a statement than a question.

Hannah looked across the table at the two men, whose eyes were fixed on her. She took a sip of the tea that had been placed in front of her and pulled herself up to her full height.

"Sometimes" she began "When you look a little too closely at something occasionally it'll look back at you."

Sam and Dean exchanged looks of confusion, but neither spoke waiting for the woman to continue.

"When I was doing research for my thesis, I got access to a rare book collection. I didn't know this at the time but one of the books housed a demon and my actions let it loose. I fought this thing for nearly two years until finally I got the upper hand… my brush with it made me different."

"Demons" said Dean trying to affect an air of total disbelief "Give me a break."

"Don't play coy gentlemen." replied Hannah sternly "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"We do?" said Dean leaning forward studying her.

"Of course you do. How many average people know what a Grimoire is?" she said boldly

"I had a miss spent youth playing Dungeons & Dragons." Dean said, but was unsurprised when Hannah's eyebrow arched in disbelief.

Hannah leaned forward in her seat so that she could lower her voice. "How many people test a complete stranger who is helping them out for demonic possession?"

Sam and Dean exchanged slightly guilty looks, and Dean had to shrug slightly embarrassed that he had been caught in his lie.

"By the way" said Hannah absently playing with the condiments on the table "That name of god thing only works on Demons from the first circle and some lesser Demons from the second circle. Anything nastier than that isn't affected."

Both Sam and Dean sat in silence for a moment, contemplating exactly what Hannah had just said.

Sam bent forward and leaned his arms on the table "Missouri, this psychic our dad knew, once said that strong evil left impressions, like fingerprints. You think that's what happened to you?"

"That's a reasonable hypothesis" said Hannah fiddling with her tea cup "Although what I have is less like finger prints and more like psychic Tourettes. I have some control over certain things, but more often than not I have no control."

"What sort of things?" asked Dean

"Telepathy, Telekinesis, Pyrokenesis, Precognition…you name it, I've probably experienced it."

"Wow, you're like a regular psychic lightning rod, aren't you?" said Dean with interest as he looked at her with new eyes.

"How do you know the book is here?" said Sam

"Well that is one of the few things I can control. I feel the pull of the books like a divining rod to water. It is my internal compass and it tells me where to head and where to stop."

"And it told you to stop here."

Hannah looked at Sam and simply nodded

"Ok lets recap." said Dean picking up a chip from his plate and stuffing it in his mouth "We got one missing kid that died in a really violent way; we have a pattern of kids going missing every 10 years and now we have a grimoire in the neighbourhood."

"I'm sure that isn't coincidence" said Sam picking at his own food.

"Is there something in this grimoire that may require these kids?" asked Dean

Hannah raised her eyebrow slightly taken back by the question "Sure! There are any number of spells and summonings that require things like the flesh of an unbaptised child, or the blood of an innocent, even the eyes of a child can be used for scrying."

"You said before that the kid died a hyper violent death, like people who are sacrificed." said Sam "Are there rituals that require that?"

"Sure. They usually relate to elements of necromancy or the giving or prolonging of life."

"An exchange" said Dean "Taking life force to enhance another just like a succubus, or Shtriga."

"Exactly" said Hannah begrudgingly impressed by the brother's knowledge. "So what do we do next?"

Sam and Dean exchanged a look communicating with just their eyes.

"We know that the area around Timber Ridge Road, seems to be where the first kid disappeared. I say we go to hall of records and find out what else is around there. We should also perhaps check the current school records and find out which kids live in that area, see if we can work out who the next target will be."

"Dean that could be a hundred kids…that may take a while." said Sam looking at his brother.

"Well I suggest you get started." said Dean standing up and reaching for his wallet.

"Me? Why Me?" groused Sam

"Because you look more like a school inspector than I do." said Dean "Besides, the Doc and I will be busy at the hall of records."

Before he could pull any money out of his wallet, Hannah pulled out some cash and dropped it on the table. "It's alright" she said smiling "Lunch is on me."

"No arguments here." said Dean slipping his wallet back in his pocket

The three of them stood and walked out of the diner. Once they hit the street Dean tossed Sam the keys to the Impala.

"Be careful with my car this time." he said looking as stern as he could.

"It wasn't my fault" said Sam reminding his brother of his innocence as he slipped into the driver's seat.

Dean looked at the woman walking next to him. "I'm guessing it's too much to hope that you'll let me drive."

Hannah gave him a wry look "Your guessing right."

Dean smiled at her, his eyes turning wicked "See, you're not the only one who's psychic around here."

Hannah rolled her eyes as she moved over to the Mustang "I'm sure John Edwards is quaking in his boots."

With that she slid into the Mustang and leaned over to unlock the door for Dean.

Dean slid down into the pigeon grey seats. "Wow" he mouthed as he ran his hands over the soft leather. Charlotte was definitely in mint condition.

Hannah looked across at the look of ecstasy on Dean's face. "Try not drool on the upholstery please." she said, before pulling sharply away from the curb.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – An Unexpected Meeting**

Dean walked next to Hannah up to the counter of the local town hall. A portly older man stood behind and when he saw Hannah approached he smiled a gap toothed smile.

"Hello there." he said "How can I help you?"

Hannah shot a quick glance at Dean who was about to speak, but she decided to take control of the situation.

"I'm Dr Hannah Riordan, I understand that you're expecting me." she said with authority.

The portly little man looked suddenly dumbfounded.

"Ah…no ma'am. I'm sorry we weren't expecting anyone." he said struggling to find his words.

Hannah looked slightly shocked. "Really, because Professor Sorenson from Stamford University sent through a letter to the mayor asking if you could assist me in my research."

The man looked blankly back at her "Your research?" he muttered.

Hannah smiled at him her most endearing smile "Yes I'm doing a comparative study of the local history of towns in Iowa and Patterson is one of my key towns. Surely your mayor must have mentioned something to you?"

"I'm sorry ma'am…he didn't mention anything."

Hannah pouted "Oh what a terrible shame" she said looking to Dean "After my research assistant and I travelled all this way." She ignored the sharp look that Dean was giving her and lightened her tone a little. "Oh well, I'll guess we'll just have to feature Bevington instead."

With that Hannah turned to leave with Dean following her lead. She had barely made a step towards the door when the attendant called her back.

"There's no need to hurry out Doctor" said the portly man, smiling his gap toothed smile

"I'm sure we can arrange something." he said seeming slightly nervous that he might be the reason that his little town didn't get its fair amount of the time in the spotlight.

Hannah turned around with her biggest smile plastered on her face. "Oh really, that would be fantastic if we could. I do prefer this town so much more than Bevington, don't you Dean?"

"Absolutely" said Dean with gusto. He was glad that for once he didn't have to carry off the weight of the deception. Just playing along gave him an element of freedom that he actually found really refreshing.

"My office is just over here – please make yourself comfortable and I'll bring you anything you need."

Hannah smiled at the man again and laid her hand gently on his arm in a familiar gesture.

"Oh you are too kind" she said softly and Dean had to curb his instinct to laugh as the little man went a steady shade of lobster red, starting from his starched collar and moving all the way up to the bald patch on his head.

"Why don't we start with a map of the town and we can have a look at the people and properties here in a methodical fashion." she said, settling into the man's slightly warn office chair.

The little man scurried off to do her bidding and Dean finally let the smile that he had been holding back touch his lips.

"Nicely done Doc." he said quietly into her ear. Hannah smiled at him mischievously and tucked her long hair behind her ears.

Watching her Dean was suddenly struck with what an attractive woman she actually was. She wasn't what he would have considered a hottie, and she certainly wasn't his usual type, but with the long dark hair, crystal blue eyes and creamy skin she was certainly attractive. No wonder she had baldy jumping through hoops for her.

The little attendant bustled back in and rolled a large map out on the desk. Hannah and Dean poured over it for a minute until they found Timber Ridge Road down on the right hand corner. Dean pointed it out to Hannah with his finger. Not more than half a mile from the road there was a farm marked on the map.

"Why don't we start here? Whose place is this?" she said batting her eyelids as she looked at the portly attendant. The little man hurried around the desk and looked where she pointed on the map.

"Oh that's the Marceau farm." he said pleased that he could help her "They've been here since the town was built."

Hannah looked to Dean once again a silent understanding going between them.

"What a fortuitous place to start then. Can you get me everything on the Marceau farm, and anything that is public record about the family or the land itself."

"I'd be happy too." said the attendant as he scurried off again.

Dean watched him go "I think you've made a friend there." he muttered, but Hannah was too engrossed at looking at the map.

"You know the most common language of a grimoire to be in apart from Latin is French." she said almost idly.

"Maybe they bought it over from the mother country?" commented Dean

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves" cautioned Hannah "They may be a very nice family that has some very unfortunate neighbours."

The little attendant came back in with an arm full of books, depositing them on the table. Looking through the titles, Dean saw records of deeds of ownership, town council minutes, census records and agricultural reports.

"There is more" said the little attendant as he scurried out for a second time.

Hannah picked up a book and started thumbing through, Dean did the same and both were engrossed in what they were looking at when the portly attendant returned and dumped more books on the edge of the table. He stood, hovering in the door for a moment, but when neither Hannah nor Dean looked up at him, he backed carefully out of the doorway.

"Huh" said Dean looking through the agricultural entries. "Looks like the Marceau farm hasn't been unusually prosperous. When everyone else has had a bad year, it seems so have they."

"Why has that caught your attention?" questioned Hannah looking at him over the edge of his book.

"I know of an instance where human sacrifice was involved to ensure the prosperity of a town. I thought that might be a motive here." He said sighing heavily

"But not cigar?" said Hannah

"Nope, not even a faint tobacco smell." he commented drolly returning his attention to the book.

Minutes slipped by turning into hours. The portly attendant would stick his head in from time to time, but when he captured neither Dean's nor Hannah's attention he simply faded back to the reception desk and let them be.

Finally Dean broke the silence "I think I've got something"

Hannah looked up from her book.

"I'm having a look at the deeds on the farm and in 1889, the farm was signed over to Anton Marceau when his father passed away. Then Anton must have died or something because the deeds were then signed over to Helene Marceau in 1897. Since then there have been no new owners of the farm."

"I'll grant you, that is strange" said Hannah "But nothing that can't be explained by bad record keeping."

"Well, I also read this." said Dean flipping to another book that he had marked with a scrap of paper "It is the minutes from the town council meeting from 1897, where the council offers up formal condolences to Helene Marceau and her four sisters who had recently arrived from France."

Hannah's eyebrow raised in interest "Five sisters." She gently closed the book that was in her lap and moved closer to look over Dean's shoulder.

"What year did the first disappearances occur?" questioned Hannah

Dean looked up at her, over his shoulder. "I'll just find out."

With that he pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialled Sam.

"Sam it's me." Dean said "What year did the disappearances first start?"

Hannah tried to listen to the answer but it was too muffled, but by the change in Dean's body language, she could guess what the answer was. Dean snapped the phone shut with resolve.

"First accounts were reported in 1907." Dean said standing up and putting the book on the table.

"Ten years after they arrived." said Hannah, voicing the thought that they shared "That's convenient."

"It's a little too convenient." said Dean "I think we need to check this farm out."

"Are you sure that is such a good idea?" said Hannah cautiously "We still don't know what we are dealing with."

"True" conceded Dean "But we are never going to know if we don't take a look."

Hannah looked at the clock on the wall, it was a quarter to five now, by the time they met up with Sam and went back to the Marceau Farm it would be closer to 6 and getting close to being dark, but she didn't argue with Dean, she could feel the concern for the next child clinging to him.

She walked out of the office nearly running into the portly little attendant.

"I've just realised the time." said Hannah "We certainly don't want to keep you after work, especially considering how helpful you've been."

"Well it's really no trouble. You are more than welcome to stay as long as you like or if you would like to come back tomorrow I'd be happy to help you." The attendant was smiling at Hannah with entirely too much hope in his face. Hannah looked at Dean for help, but Dean had turned away to conceal the smile on his face.

"Well then…..um?"

"Calvin" said the attendant allowing his gap toothed smile to become even wider on his face.

"Of course…Well then Calvin, we'll be back tomorrow at some stage, but thank you so much for all of your assistance today. It is greatly appreciated. Come on Dean, we best be off."

Hannah nearly had to forcibly drag Dean behind her as she left, because he was too busy trying to contain the laughter that was building up inside of him to walk. A soon as they made it to the pavement outside Dean's composure cracked and a bark of laughter escaped his lips. Hannah looked at him through angry eyes.

"I'm sorry" he said still laughing but holding up his hand in supplication "You've got him sitting up and begging, I was just wondering does he do any other trick? Playing dead, rolling over?"

"Shall we go, or would you prefer it to be dark when we go and look at the farm?" asked Hannah irritably.

Dean, still snickering, made a mocking bow indicating that Hannah should walk on, and then he pulled out his cell phone and called Sam.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 – An Unexpected Meeting**

"So you think we can trust her?" asked Sam as he pulled on a t-shirt. Dean looked up from where he was pouring over his father's journal.

"Hell no!" said Dean unequivocally "But there are already too many unknowns about this; I'd prefer to keep her close so that we can keep an eye on her."

A knock rang through their small motel room and Dean stood, tossing the journal to Sam who slid it into his satchel.

Dean opened the door and Hannah stood there. She had changed out of her tailored suit and now wore black jeans and a black turtle neck. Despite the fact that this is what she probably considered her casual clothes, she still looked as spruced as she had been wearing her suit. Not even a hair was out of place, where she had pulled it back into a ponytail.

"Well if it isn't Nancy Drew" mumbled Dean as he took in Hannah's new attire.

"You ready to go?" she said looking between Sam and Dean

"I'll drive" said Dean, pulling the keys to the Impala off the sideboard next to the door and Sam followed him out pulling the door closed behind him.

The three sat in silence as Dean picked his way around the back roads of Patterson until they were once again driving down the Timber Ridge Road. Dean parked the Impala next to the wooded area once again and they all got out of the car.

Dean walked around to the trunk and opened it, using a shotgun to support its heavy lid, he opened the lock box that had been installed as a false bottom to the trunk. When Hannah looked at the array of weapons and talismans that the brothers had accumulated, she merely raised her eyebrows, but decided that discretion was the better part of valour and remained silent.

Dean handed a hand gun to Sam, then slipped one into the waist band of his jeans, he also pulled a bottle of holy water, two sawn-off shot guns and an array of iron and salt buck shot and tossed it in a duffel bag that he slung carelessly over his shoulder.

With the sun steadily sinking in the sky, the Woods seemed far more dark and imposing than they had earlier in the day. The group retraced their steps through the trees until they passed the lonely bike covered by a bush.

"Based on the map" said Dean, almost in a whisper "The farm house should be a little ways that way."

He pointed to a small knoll that rose out of the earth blocking their view to the other side. The trio climber the knoll and stopped abruptly. While the wood was still thick, they could now see through to the farm house in the distance.

The house itself was of old fashioned design with a gabled roof and bay windows. It stood two stories high and had a porch running around three sides of it. Not far from the house, stood a massive brown barn. It looked like it had been the model for every fisher price farm every made.

Dean looked down, the knoll dropped away sharply to reveal a creek filled with fetid stagnant water. Hannah and Dean exchanged looks. This little water way had certainly not been on the map they had looked at today, and to get to the farm house they were definitely going to have to cross it.

Picking up a nearby branch, Sam started prodding at the water, but the branch seemed to go in without touching the bottom. "Looks pretty deep." he muttered, tossing the branch aside.

Hannah looked over to Dean "I don't suppose you happened to pack a boat in your satchel?"

Dean smiled at her, looking completely un-phased by this recent obstacle. "Let's just walk down a bit and see if there is a way to get across or a shallow part or something."

Walking along the edge of the waterway, both Sam and Dean caught sight of movement up in front of them. Dean instinctively went for his gun, but Hannah put a firm hand on his and stilled him.

On the path in front of them a large tortoiseshell cat had stopped as was studying them. It was crouched low prepared to flee if they moved closer. Neither human nor cat moved for a long moment, each studying the other. Then Dean straightened, for his crouched position, the motion startling the cat.

The cat took off and looked for all the world to be running in mid air as it crossed over the waterway, but as the trio approached they realised that several pieces of wood had been laid between the two banks of the waterway, making a makeshift bridge.

Sam looked dubiously at the bridge. "Do you think that thing will hold our weight?"

Dean put one foot on the planks testing his weight on them. "Well there is one sure fire way to find out." with that he took a couple of strides over the planks. The wood groaned under his weight but he made is safely to the other side.

Hannah watched with her heart in her mouth, waiting for the horrible moment where the boards broke and Dean fell into the water below, but when it didn't happened, she felt cheated that her concern was all in vein. She looked up at Sam indignantly

"He is something of an impetuous creature isn't he?"

Sam just smiled at her neither confirming nor denying her statement verbally, but the look in his eyes told her that Sam felt exactly the same way about his brother.

Sam headed out across the makeshift bridge and he too reached the other side without incident and both men turned looking expectantly at Hannah. It wasn't in her nature to be intimidated by things, she was pretty adventurous at heart, but that didn't mean that she was any more comfortable about crossing this particular death trap.

She put her foot on the plank balancing herself and then she took several confident steps ignoring the creaking of the boards under her feet, until she could reach the brothers outstretched hands. Once she had a hold of them, they all but pulled her the rest of the way.

"The cat went that way." said Sam pointing towards the farm house.

"Sammy! Did you learn nothing from Alien?" Dean said sharply "Never follow the cat."

Hannah smiled instantly picking up his reference. "If memory serves, apart from Sigourney Weaver, Jones was the only other creature that made it off the Nostromo."

Dean raised his eyebrow, impressed at her knowledge. She didn't exactly strike him as the kind of person who would enjoy a movie like that. Then again, she didn't exactly strike him as someone who would be into American muscle cars and yet somehow she was.

"That may be true, but the cat only survived because the Alien was too busy eating the poor smucks following it." Dean said with laughter in his voice.

Hannah held his eyes for a moment as she considered what he said "You may have a point there." she finally conceded.

"Come on" said Dean moving towards the Barn. The Barn was a little way from the house and was probably the best place to have a look without being seen in the dying light. Then when it was dark they could get close to the house and check it out.

The trio ran ducking in and out of cover keeping one eye on the farm house and one on the barn. Dean reached the broadest side of the barn and pressed his back against the rough wood, Hannah fell in beside him and Sam bought up the rear, throwing a nervous look at the farm house over his shoulder.

Dean inched his way along the side of the barn. He paused for a moment and listened, just behind him he heard a strange noise, like someone breathing heavily or snorting, on the other side of the wall. He looked to Hannah and Sam to see if they too heard the noise and the extreme concentration on both their faces told him, they were trying to figure it out also.

Then the whinnying of a horse bellowed right behind their heads explaining what the noise was. At the sudden noise, Hannah's flight instinct had kicked in and she was making ready to bolt. Thankfully both Sam and Dean had seen her reaction and had anticipated her response and had both grabbed one of her arms. It took a moment for her to associate the noise back to the animal, but once she had, she stopped struggling against the boys hold on her and relaxed again back against the wall.

The horse whinnied a second time, and this time the trio heard a soft voice speaking to it. Dean strained to hear what was being said, but he suddenly realised, whoever it was, was not speaking in English.

Dean turned back to look at Sam, who simply shrugged, and then he noticed Hannah who had her head close to the wall of the barn and she was listening intently. Dean touched her shoulder to get her attention and raised his eyebrows in question.

'French' Hannah mouthed without making a single sound. Sam who was standing behind Hannah and hadn't seen her gesture, looked quizzically at Dean who repeated the message that Hannah had given him with the same silent wording. Sam nodded that he understood and then put his ear close to the barn again.

Frustrated that he couldn't help, Dean inched along the side of the barn until he came across a board that had a hole in it where a knot had once formed within the timber. He looked through the hole but his view was mostly obscured by the large rump of the horse, but as the horse shifted its weight he saw a pretty petite woman, stroking the animals neck and whispering into its ear.

Her long dark hair was pulled back off her face in a soft bun and her dress looked like something from 'Little House on the Prairie'. She gave the horse one final pat along its neck, then she bent down to pick something up and disappeared out of Dean's line of sight.

Dean edged his way towards the corner of the barn and from this vantage point he watched as the woman walked towards the house. She was almost childlike in stature, but Dean had seen her face and new that it was that of a woman. He watched her walk all the way to the house, up the porch steps and in through the front door.

He decided he should go back and get the others, but when he turned he was startled to find Hannah and Sam standing right behind him. He almost hit them in his panic, be he drew a deep breath into his lungs and looked daggers at them instead.

"Damn it" he muttered "Don't do that."

Hannah and Sam exchanged a look of complete innocence before turning back to look at Dean.

"So did you get any of that?" Dean said pointing to the barn.

"A little of it" said Hannah "She was really hard to hear and she was speaking the French equivalent of iambic pentameter."

Dean's eyebrows shot up "Huh?"

"Like Shakespeare" said Sam. With that simple explanation Dean's expression changed from a question to complete understanding.

"So what did you pick up?" Dean asked turning his eyes to Hannah

"She was complaining that she had to do all the chores by herself because she was the eldest. But she would have some help soon."

"Did she say eldest" questioned Sam "or first born."

Dean looked at his brother amazed "You speak French?"

"A little" Sam confessed

"You're like the McGyver of geeks aren't you." muttered Dean as he gave Sam a good natured chuck on the arm.

"First born…eldest. Isn't the meaning the same?" said Hannah dragging their attention back to the issue at hand.

"Maybe" said Sam "Maybe Not"

Before they could continue speaking the front door of the house was opened. Dean, Hannah and Sam flattened themselves against the side of the barn and looked towards the porch. The petite little woman that Dean had seen earlier came out first holding the door back as four older women came out.

The old women, were nearly bent over double and each wore clothes and shawls that looked they had worked straight of the set of 'Dr Quinn Medicine Woman'. They even wore bonnets over their hair.

The trio watched on as the young woman helped each of them down the stairs of the porch and then all the women headed towards the creek where the makeshift bridge was. There progress was painfully slow and Dean made sure that they were well out of sight before he covered the open ground between the barn and the bridge.

Hannah, jogged at Dean's shoulder and she sensed Sam matching her pace with her. When they got near to the bridge the last old woman was crossing and to avoid being seen Dean dropped to his stomach.

Sam read his brother flawlessly and also dropped to the ground. Hannah looked around, somewhat confused by the boy's sudden disappearance, but realisation dawned on her and she too dropped to her belly also.

Dean started crawling forward, commando style, keeping the 5 women in sight the whole time. He was debating whether to follow them or take the opportunity while they were away from the house to search it.

"Sam" Dean whispered "Why don't you take the Doc back to the house and search it while they're out in the woods. I'll keep and eye on them."

"No" hissed Hannah vehemently "We should stick together. Everything that we are interested in just went that way." with that she pointed along the ground to the makeshift bridge.

"How do you know that?" whispered Sam

"Because the grimoire went that way."

Sam and Dean exchanged questioning looks.

"Please." said Hannah pleadingly "If you believe nothing else that I say, believe this."

"Ok" said Dean getting up on his haunches "Follow me."

He moved quickly, staying as close to the ground as was physically possible. By the time he reached the bridge he could no longer see the 5 women, but he moved cautiously. Just because he couldn't see them, didn't mean they couldn't see him.

He hurried over the bridge, turning to help Hannah and Sam and together the three moved through the woods, shifting between thickets and bushes for cover. They hunkered down behind a bush and looked on to the five women in the clearing. The young woman and one of the stooped older women were busy gathering wood in the centre of the clearing, while the others looked to be drawing in the dirt with twigs and sticks.

Hannah craned her neck to see if she could see what they were drawing, but the light was too poor and her position too low for her to see anything. Once there was a big enough pile of logs in the middle the young woman hurried to beneath a tree and picked something up. In the dying light the men strained to see what it was, but Hannah knew instantly. The site of it made her gut twist almost painfully. The leather bound tomb was large, and the petite woman struggled to handle it.

Hannah looked between Sam and Dean meaningfully and judging from their expressions she knew they understood exactly what that was. All turned their eyes back to the clearing, but the tension from the trio was palpable. All recognised that this situation was going to get bad rapidly.

The four older women took up position over the things that they had drawn into the soil, while the younger petite woman stood with the book balanced in her hands. She said four words in her rustic French and the pile of logs and twigs burst into flame, illuminating the clearing in the growing darkness. But the flame did not glow in normal amber and gold hues, the flames were a bluey green - throwing and eerie light on the faces of the crones standing around it.

"Witch Fire" whispered Dean looking slightly alarmed.

Dean slipped the duffle bag from his shoulder and as quietly as he could, eased a sawn-off shot-gun out of the bag and passed it to Sam. Then he eased a second gun out of his bag and cracked it making sure both barrels were loaded with shot. Hannah who had not taken her eyes of the clearing, put a restraining hand on his shoulder and he looked up sharply.

At the furthest edge of the clearing a girl no more than nine or ten stood. Her eyes were glazed over like she was in a trance and she took two ungainly steps towards the fire. Dean, Hannah and Sam exchanged looks; there was no way that they were going to allow this girl to suffer as the other missing children had. The crones at the edge of the clearing started to chant softly in French as the petite young woman read an incantation from the grimoire.

Hannah only understood some of the words, but she knew their meaning well. Sam caught the panicked look in her eyes and grabbed onto her looking at her questioningly. Without warning their attention was drawn back to the clearing as they heard the little girl's blood curdling scream.

The girl was no longer in a trance; she was levitating fiver or six feet over the flames of the witch fire. The glazed look had slipped and been replaced with fear so deep that her screams had changed for full bodied wail to nothing but rasping squeaks.

Dean looked hopelessly to Sam. If they made their move now the girl would likely fall into the fire, if they waited, god only knew what would happen to her. Hannah leaned in close to Dean so she could whisper to him.

"Do it! I'll get the girl"

Dean sat back studying her for a long moment, surprise and disbelief written all over his face. She looked at him imploringly and he could do nothing but have a little faith that she could do what she said, after all they were all out of any other options.

Dean nodded curtly giving Hannah a stern look, then he looked to Sam who nodded his understanding. Dean counted down silently on his fingers and when none remained the two men leapt from their hiding spot, shooting at the crone closest to them. Hannah sprung out of the bush immediately after them - reaching out with her mind to the girl.

Despite the fact that the she was a good fifteen feet from the girl Hannah saw the girl move towards her a little. Hannah focused all her concentration on the girl, she narrowed her vision so that all she saw was the little girls eyes and in her mind she repeated 'Come to me' like a mantra. The little girl was still screaming but as if sensing that Hannah was there to help she locked her eyes onto Hannah and reached for her.

With both barrels emptied into the two crones on his side of the clearing, Dean dropped the sawn-off shot-gun and pulled the hand gun from his waist. He took aim at the petite woman holding the book and pulled the trigger. He was vaguely aware of Sam doing the same thing on the other side of the clearing. The bullets sped from the barrels of both guns and struck both the woman and the book.

She recoiled two steps and looked like she might fall, but somehow she regained her feet and began chanting in an ear piercing howl. Both Dean and Sam were forced to drop their guns and cover their ears, the noise burrowing into their brains like a nail. Hannah too covered her ears, but she would not relinquish her hold on the little girl. She felt the pull on the girl strengthen and was vaguely aware of the crones finding their feet. She chanced a glance at Sam and Dean who were both nearly doubled over at the brain numbing pitch of the incantation.

Suddenly Dean was thrown off his feet by an unseen force and dragged out of the clearing so fast that Hannah barely had time to see what was happening. Her lapse in concentration was all the witches needed to pry the girl from the grip of her mind.

Her telekinesis failing her, Hannah was suddenly struck by just how vulnerable she was. She heard Sam get of one round before he too was forcibly dragged from his feet by an unseen force and dragged into the darkness of the wood. Hannah turned back to look at the sisters who were converging together, the eyes that looked at her glowed a feral amber and they had the little girl clutched closely to them.

Hannah could feel her instincts at work, she was only vaguely aware of her subconscious building the protective wall that it needed to fend of the attack that was imminent, but she was too late. The five sisters turned their collective power on her and she was thrown of her feet so far that she felt like she was falling forever, then she hit something hard knocking the wind from her as the water that she had fallen into swallowed her into its murky depths.

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – An Unexpected Meeting**

Dean clasped his hand over his ears, pain like a hot poker pushed violently against his skull making him feel nauseous. He doubled over feeling compelled to close his eyes or he was going to loose his lunch. He had a vague impression where Sam and the Doc were but there was no way that he could help then right at that moment. Dean's mind rebelled feeling the imperative to protect his brother and the other innocents here and as soon as he was resolved to stand in spite of the pain that her felt, a force like a steroid pumped line backer hit his legs dumping him awkwardly on the ground.

He felt something around his legs, preventing him from finding his feet and the next thing he knew he was being dragged through the leaf litter like he was being dragged behind a horse. Dean threw his arms out, madly grasping at anything, but he was moving so quickly that he couldn't get a grip on anything. Sticks and twigs scratched at his eyes and he tried rolling on his back to protect his face, but whatever had a hold of his legs wouldn't even let him flip over. He had enough time to get and impression of being dragged up a slight incline before he was falling.

He hit the murky water hard, knocking the air out of his lungs in one painful rush, then the water closed over his head. He struggled flailing his arms, but unable to kick with his legs. Whatever had him, was not about to let him go anytime soon. Dean opened his eye, but the water was nearly black, with only the faintest hint of silt swirling in the disturbed depths. Dean felt the first wave of panic hit him and he had to curb the instinct to take a big breath while he was still submerged. His stomach contracted in on itself and his lungs started to hurt from lack of oxygen.

He kicked violently a second time to try and dislodge whatever had a hold of his legs, but the only thing he succeeded in doing was making his lungs and throat hurt worse than before. Dean reached up towards the surface of the water trying to find anything that he could use to pull himself out but his fingers didn't even break the surface of the water. Dean felt a dull pain in his head, starting right between his eyes, his longs were on fire and his throat burned. He had always imaged that when someone drowned it was a quick thing, like at one point you were alive and the next you weren't, but Dean came to realise that there was a moment before dying, a kind of quiet and calm moment where he was able to think with a clarity that he had never experienced before.

He thought of his Father and how Dean had let him down so terribly. He thought of Sam, of how he wasn't able to protect him, he said a prayer to whoever was listening, that Sam was fairing better than he was. But mostly he thought of that little girl in the clearing. She was going to die and he had been unable to do anything to stop it. The sound of her terrified scream was etched razor sharp in his memory and it occupied his last thoughts as the blackness finally overtook him.

* * *

Hannah put her mouth over Dean's and breathed sharply 5 quick breath, forcing air into his lungs.

"Damn it Dean. Don't do this" she muttered frantically searching for the pulse point on his throat.

Hannah had come to the surface of the stagnant creek disoriented and in pain. The plants and reeds on the creek bottom had seemed to be reaching for her, but somehow she had been able to shield herself from their grasping clutches. She had looked around trying to get her bearings, and once she saw the bank, she had started to swim towards it. As she did she had collided with something beneath the surface and instinctively she had pulled away from it, but some unconscious component of her brain recognised what she had hit as a person, and it wasn't just any person...It was Dean.

Blind panic had helped her pull his body from the tangle of reeds that held him fast under the water. It also helped her drag his water soaked body up the banks of the creek so that he lay as he did now, unconscious and unbreathing next to the fetid water.

Not feeling any pulse, Hannah measured his sternum roughly with her hands and found the cardiac pressure point, and then placing one hand on top of the other, she began to try and resuscitate him. She alternated between giving him breathes and trying to start is heart through cardiac massage. Every now and then she would stop to check for a pulse or see if he breathing, but he seemed to be resolutely doing neither

Hannah had the craziest thoughts going through her head. She was going through her first aid training mentally, wondering if she had the breath to compression ratio right, wondering if she was pushing the breath into his lungs or just distending his stomach with useless air. Doubt racked at her, but she couldn't give up. Too many had died on her account, and she was sure as hell not going to let Dean join them.

* * *

Dean was dead.

He knew he was dead…He'd been dead before.

But for some reason unlike last time he couldn't quite shake the darkness that had enveloped him. _Maybe_, he thought, _this is what it was like to die of drowning?_

He couldn't feel his body and he wasn't really sure where he was or where he was supposed to be going, but this blankness…this horrible oblivion just didn't seem right. _Maybe he was still underwater?_

Dean thought about opening his eyes to escape the horrible darkness. Mentally he kicked himself, he didn't have any eyes to open. _Well this sucks_! he thought.

Then he heard a voice. A woman's voice...a voice he knew. He focussed on the voice, being the only one thing in the terrible nothingness that was his current existence.

Suddenly he was thrown into a scene, not a scene he knew but with his new found clarity; he understood it as a memory, one of the Doc's memories.

He watched on as she stood over a bed in an ornate bedroom. Two older people slept in the bed unmoving. The man was a tall man with grey hair and a distinguished moustache while the woman was an older version of the Doc, the same auburn hair and creamy white skin.

The Doc approached the bed and Dean saw the glint of steel as she raised her hand exposing the long knife. Without hesitation or pause the Doc raised the knife and slashed down at the sleeping mans throat. Dean was not particularly squeamish, but the ferocity of the blow disturbed him as he watched as the old mans blood soaked the sheets.

The violent action had obviously awoken the woman, she woke taking a moment to realise what was going on. A scream rung out of her throat but was savagely silenced as the Doc bought the knife down over and over and over again.

Dean heard footsteps approaching and he looked to the door, he wanted to scream out and warn whoever was coming through, but he had no body and he understood that this was quite clearly the past.

The door swung open and a man came skidding in. Dean looked between the Doc and the man who had just come in and the family resemblance was stark. This was the Doc's brother, it had to be. The man, obviously older than the Doc, looked with eyes too large for his face at the scene that welcomed him as he skidded into the room. He tried to speak but stammered on the words. That momentary hesitation, that pause was all the Doc needed, she changed her grip on the bloodied knife and through it with preternatural accuracy hitting her brother square in the throat.

The blow knocked him off his feet, but didn't kill him. Dean could see his eyes moving wildly looking watching the Doc with a combination of betrayal and surprise. The Doc eased herself of the bed and strolled almost casually to him. She stood over him looking down with a hideous grin on her lips and then with deliberate slowness she removed the knife from where it had logged in her brothers throat.

The act was so callous and deliberate that Dean wanted to scream at her. He wanted to throw a few good punches, but something about this wasn't right and he couldn't quite figure this out. He had not only watched this grisly scene play out, he had also felt all of the emotions that the Doc associated with it. She felt horror, revulsion, guilt and more than anything she felt helpless. There was none of the malicious feeling that would have been commiserate with a scene like this, there was not anger or hate or even the perverted pleasure that he saw on the woman in the images. What he saw and what she felt just didn't add up.

Then it hit him - a blinding realisation. This walked like the Doc and talked like the Doc, but whatever had committed these heinous acts wasn't the Doc. He would have bet his immortal soul on it.

At the exact moment of his realisation he felt a pain in his chest...or at least where his chest would have been if he were alive. Confusion swamped him and the Doc's memories faded out of his view. Perhaps he shouldn't have bet his immortal soul, this may well be pay day.

Again there was a pain in his chest. How could there be pain? He was dead wasn't he? Suddenly his lungs expanded with a much needed breath of air. _Hang on_, thought Dean, _the dead don't need to breath?_

Then he started to cough and gasp for air. He tried to sit up, but he felt hands on him rolling him on his side. He tried to open his eyes and the Doc's face swam in and out of his field of vision.

"Relax" she whispered smoothing back hair from his face. "Try and breathe easy."

Dean hurt everywhere and his thinking was all convoluted as he tried to adapt to being among the living again. So he listened to the Docs gentle voice and did what she told him. They sat like that for a few minutes until Hannah was satisfied that Dean was breathing alright and then she looked around in the forest for any signs of Sam.

"Stay here" she whispered close to Dean's ear "I'm going to try and find Sam."

At the mention of his brother's name, Dean's prime directive kicked in. He had to protect Sam. He struggled to get up, but Hannah put a firm hand on him.

"Dean" she exclaimed in a loud whisper "Dean, lie down. You're in no condition to move."

Dean knew his limitation, knew that he probably wasn't going to be much good to her but this was Sam, he gripped onto her arm with all the strength he could muster. The images of her slaughtering her family still crystal clear in his mind.

"Find him." he whispered harshly, his throat constricting on the words as he spoke them.

Hannah locked eyes with him an understanding passing between them. She could feel his desperation in the grip on her arm, she could feel his guilt and his sorrow and his worry and she understood them.

Without saying another word Hannah stood and hurried back to the clearing. The fire was nothing but glowing embers now and there was no sign of the witches or the little girl. Hannah went back to the bush where they had hidden themselves and picked up Dean's Duffle bag. She reached around in the duffle to try and find a flashlight and as she scoured the ground for the weapons the brothers had discarded on the melee, she caught a glimpse of the symbols that the hags had scratched in to the ground.

Hannah would have liked to have studied them further but she felt the need to find Sam pull on her. Moving over to where she had last seen him, she placed her hands on the ground and tried to focus in on him. As soon as her hand touched the earth she was assaulted with images, children dying screaming, the hags chanting insidiously. She thought of Sam, pulled a picture up in her mind and tried to narrow her concentration on to him.

She was filled with the sensation of moving of being pulled backwards through the trees, she shuddered as she felt an impact and then all went black. Sam was somewhere through the trees. She shone the light up through the trees looking for any signs of him, she ran in almost a straight line until in the torch light she could see and larger tree. She swung the torch lower and at the base of the tree, Sam was crumpled in a heap.

Hannah raced over to him, and felt his neck for a pulse. She let out the breath that she had been holding when she felt the steady beat at his throat.

"Sam" she whispered shaking him slightly "Sam!"

Sam came awake with a anguished cry.

"Don't move me" he muttered through gritted teeth "Don't move me."

Hannah looked at him, the agony clear on his face.

"Sam what's wrong. Where are you hurt?" she asked hesitant to touch him again in case she hurt him further.

"My shoulder" he said more breath than voice "I think I dislocated it when I hit the tree."

Hannah shone the torch light down on his body and sure enough his shoulder blade was sticking out at a sickly angle.

"Oh Jesus Christ." said Hannah wondering what to do. Her first aid course had taught her CPR but hadn't really covered dislocations. "We need to get you to a hospital. Can you sit up?"

Sam started to and whimpered as he tried to contain the cry of agony that he was desperately to give.

Hannah undid her belt and slipped it out of her jeans. She did the belt up on the longest loop and slung it around Sam's neck. Gently she helped him guide his limp arm into the makeshift sling.

"Dean?" whispered Sam trying to ease himself into a more comfortable position.

"He's ok for now. Wait here, I'm going to go back and get him."

With that Hannah slipped her hand into the duffle bag and pulled out one of the shot-guns, she also grabbed two of the buckshot rounds and loaded it in the two barrels. She gave Sam a quick look to make sure that he was going to be ok, and then she hurried off back into the woods to go and get Dean.

When she was getting close to where she had left Dean she heard a rustling in the bush. Quickly she turned the torch light off and raised the shot-gun towards the source of the noise. She padded on silent feet, her heart in her throat towards the noise until she could see Dean trying to walk through the woods, loosing his balance and crashing into bushes and trees.

Hannah hurried forward taking one of Dean's arms and slinging it across her shoulders.

"I thought I told you to stay put." she said, but found it difficult to be angry because she was so relieved it was him and not one of the hags.

"I need to find Sam." said Dean staggering a little and breathing heavily.

"I've found him." said Hannah taking more of Dean's wait to pick up the speed.

"Is he ok?" questioned Dean searching her face for any sign that there might be a problem.

"Looks like her dislocated his arm, but I think he'll be ok."

"Take me too him." Dean pleaded, and Hannah could only understand his desperation to assure himself that his brother was ok. She had had a brother once, she understood how he felt.

Dean and Hannah hobbled through the woods towards Sam, when they rounded where Sam sat beneath the tree, they both heard the safety flicked on a hand gun as Sam lowered the gun he held unsteadily in his left hand. Dean looked down to where his younger brother sat.

"You ok Sammy?" Dean said as Hannah eased him down on the ground next to his brother.

"I've been better" muttered Sam "You?"

"I'll be ok." Dean replied quietly, glancing briefly at Hannah. She stood a little way away from the brothers with her eyes looking into the woods where they had come from, the shotgun resting over her arm.

"We need to get you both to a hospital." She said "It's not safe here."

"What about the girl?" questioned Sam, whose face was turning a sickly shade of grey.

"Let me worry about her." said Hannah slinging the duffle bag over her shoulder "You two wouldn't be much use to her now anyway."

Despite his instincts, Dean had to concede to the logic of Hannah's words. He took the hand that she extended to him and with her help pulled himself to his feet. Then between them they helped Sam get up.

The progress through the woods was slow. The darkness hampered their movement and sense of direction and the two wounded men needed regular rest breaks, but finally they made it back to the Impala.

Hannah took the keys from Dean and helped Sam into the back seat. Dean signalled that he wanted the keys back so he could drive, but the stubborn look on Hannah's face told him exactly what she thought of that idea. Dean too tired to argue, finally conceded and slid into the passenger's seat.

"Just be kind to my baby Doc" he muttered before he let his head loll back on the head rest.

"Like she was my own." replied Hannah absently as she pulled out onto the road.

Hannah had driven past the medical clinic a couple of time during her stay in Patterson, so she knew exactly where it was.

As they pulled into the parking lost, Sam's face was ashen and his eyes drooped heavily as he tried to endure the pain. Hannah and Dean helped him out of the car and the trio walked in to the medical centre.

The nurse on the reception desk looked up at them, her mild annoyance someone would drop into the clinic a quarter of an hour before it closed was replaced with concern when she saw the three as they walked in.

"What happened?" she asked, coming quickly out from behind the desk.

"My cousins and I were rough housing" improvised Hannah "and it got a little out of hand."

"A little out of hand" exclaimed the nurse. "You all look beat to hell."

At the nurse's words, Hannah had to pause and consider exactly what they all must look like. Dean was a slightly greenish colour and his face had tiny little cuts and scratches all over it.

Then there was Sam with his very obvious dislocated arm and scratches from head to toe and Hannah was fairly certain that she must look like a bedraggled cat.

"Why don't you two wait out here in the waiting room while I take your cousin through to see the doctor?"

Dean was reluctant to let Sam go, but Hannah pulled gently on his arm until he relinquished his grip on his brother and they both watched as the nurse led Sam through a set of swinging doors.

Dean allowed Hannah to lead him over to a row of plastic chairs and they both sat with the eyes glued to the swinging doors. As he rested his head in his hands, Dean wondered how it had all gone so wrong. He replayed the scenario over and over in his head wondering if just a little change to what he had done would have made any difference to the outcome.

After quarter of an hour the nurse from reception returned through the double doors. Dena and Hannah's heads snapped up sharply at the activity and the nurse smiled sympathetically at them.

"Your cousin will be fine. He's seeing the doctor right now. I'm going to need one of you to fill in some paperwork."

Dean nodded wordlessly at the nurse seeming to wilt noticeably, and as Hannah watched him with keen eyes she caught the nurse's attention as she turned to go.

"I'll do it" she said to the nurse with a subtle air of authority.

Dean looked across at her and she gave him a gentle smile.

"Thanks Doc." he said in quiet tones so that only Hannah could hear him.

She waved her hand at his thanks almost absently; trying to make out like it was no big deal. But Dean was not just thanking her for filling out some paperwork. He was thanking her for getting them here, for finding and looking after his brother and for saving his life.

The nurse handed Hannah a clipboard and a pen and she started filling out the details. Where she was in doubt she just used her own information, writing down her address and her surname. After all, the only thing that these forms were interested in was that the method of payment or the insurance information was correct, and she was fairly certain that there would be no problem with her credit card number.

As she was finishing the forms a tall older gentleman came through the double doors, the white lab coat he wore and stethoscope marked him as a doctor.

"I take it your with Sam." said the doctor walking over to where they sat, both Hannah and Dean stood to meet the man.

"Yes. Is he alright?" asked Dean anxiously

"Bad dislocation" the doctor said shaking his head slightly "I've given him something for the pain, but I'm not confident putting that arm back in until an orthopaedic surgeon has had a look, I don't want to do any more tendon damage."

Dean visibly stiffened at the word surgeon and both Hannah and the doctor noticed the acute change in his demeanour.

"Don't worry" assured the doctor "As luck would have it there is an orthopaedic surgeon at the county hospital in Winterset. I've ordered an ambulance to transport your cousin and the surgeon should be able to see him in an hour or so, they'll probably want to keep him overnight."

The doctor smiled at the too noting that they were still extremely concerned for the young man. "Next time." he chided "Go easy on the boy."

Hannah smiled at the doctor and thanked him, but Dean just nodded moodily and watched as the doctor disappeared behind the swinging doors.

As if on cue an ambulance pulled up outside the entrance to the clinic and two paramedics walked in dragging and empty gurney behind them. Dean and Hannah watched them as they passed by and disappeared through to the examination rooms in the back.

Only a few minutes passed before they returned with Sam propped up on the gurney, his makeshift sling having been replaced with a blue medical one.

Dean hurried over to the gurney, putting on and encouraging smile for his brother, who was blissfully riding a wave of euphoria, a by-product of the intense pain killers that he had been given. Sam smiled feebly, but the gesture seemed to put Dean at ease a little.

Hannah made sure that all the paperwork was filled in with the reception nurse then hurried into step with the paramedics.

"It's going to be ok Sammy." said Dean feeling that it was slightly lame as soon as he said it.

The paramedics opened the back of the ambulance, the florescent light from the back illuminated the dark car park. The to men started to manoeuvre the gurney into the back of the ambulance and Dean suddenly realised that he was going to be forced to make a decision. His instincts told him to get in the ambulance with Sam, but he had a moment where he wondered what he was going to do about the Doc and his car.

Hannah seemed to sense his moment of indecision and lay a gentle hand on his arm.

"Go with Sam." she said "I'll meet up with you at the hospital later."

Dean turned, about to climb into the back of the ambulance when something about what the Doc had said struck him. He turned back narrowing his eyes on her.

"What do you mean later? What are you going to do?"

Hannah gave him a look that told him she was disappointed that he hadn't just accepted that statement at face value.

"I'm going to get the girl." she said quietly not meeting his eye as she spoke.

Dean baulked "Not by yourself your not!" he said with conviction

"Dean, go to the hospital" protested Hannah "I can handle this, I really can."

"Do you have a sudden case of amnesia?" Dean all but spat "We just had our asses handed to us."

"Yes, but now we have an advantage." argued Hannah "They think that we're dead."

Dean held Hannah's gaze contemplating what she was saying.

"We'll regroup and go back in the daylight. They'll still think we're dead then." He gave the command trying to imbrue it with the same authoritative tone that his father had developed over his many years of hunting.

"She could be dead by then." Hannah said plainly but her eyes were almost pleading.

One of the paramedics stuck his head out of the back of the ambulance. "Go or stay?" he said sharply "You've got to decide now."

Dean looked into the ambulance and caught Sam's eye. His brother may have been heavily medicated but he had missed nothing about the interaction that had passed between Dean and Hannah, and he was lucid enough to guess what it was about.

"Go" he called, giving Dean the permission that h needed to mollify his protective instincts.

"We'll meet you at the hospital as soon as we can." Dean called as the doors to the ambulance were closed, plunging Hannah and Dean into darkness again.

Hannah looked at Dean somewhat dumbstruck that he had stayed behind.

"If he was my brother" she said quietly "There is nothing in this world that would have stopped me getting into that ambulance."

Dean gave her a stare of cold determination; his mouth set in a grim line "Not even the life of a little girl."

Hannah had to look away; she knew that if there was a chance to save the girl she would do everything in her power to do it. Her own brother would have accepted nothing less from her.

"Dean you're in no condition to do this." she said rapidly changing the subject, but Dean was already striding purposefully to the Impala.

"I'm fine" he said through his teeth, but Hannah knew that the only reason he was even standing was through sheer force of will.

He held his hand out to her, expectantly and she retrieved the keys from her pocket and placed them in his open palm. Opening the car, he pulled the duffle bag from the back seat, where Hannah had dumped it earlier, and rummaged through its contents until his hands fell on the familiar leather cover of his father's journal.

Pulling the journal out, he moved to the front seat, Hannah sliding in next to him, so that he could read under the internal light of the car.

"What's that?" questioned Hannah, causing Dean to look up at her briefly.

"My father's journal." he stated his voice strangely flat as he thumbed through the pages of notes and clippings "Everything that my father knew about every bad thing he ever faced. I'm hoping that it'll tell me what these things are so that we know how to kill them."

Hannah seemed to pause for a moment, as if she was considering what she would say next, and her hesitation drew Dean's attention.

"I think I know what they are?" she said quietly and her statement was strangely punctuated with the crisp pop of Dean rapidly closing the journal. He looked at her expectantly and she swallowed quickly to stop her throat from going dry.

Every research instinct that was in Hannah was telling her to remain silent, to not jump to conclusions until she had done further investigation, but logic also told her that the little girl didn't have to time for her to do more research, she was relying on Hannah making this call and making it quickly.

"When I was looking for Sam, I caught a glimpse of the symbols that they scratched into the dirt. They were Basque." she said quietly

"Basque?"

Hannah nodded "Yeah they are an indigenous people that inhabited the region around the Pyrenees as far back as the Roman Empire."

Dean looked at her impatiently. "That's great Doc, but what are these bitches and how do I kill them."

"I think they are Sorginak " said Hannah, and when Dean looked at her blankly she went on to explain "The Sorginak in Basque mythology are said to be the companions of the goddess Mari. They are very old and very powerful witches or priestesses."

"Ok" said Dean "Can they be killed?"

Hannah looked at him a bit pensively "Honestly. I don't know. But there is a record that during the time of the Spanish Inquisition a French Judge put a whole heap of Basque women on trial saying that they were Sorginak and all were burnt at the stake."

"So you think fire might be the best weapon that we have against them."

Hannah felt uncomfortable under the intensity of Dean's gaze "It's only a guess, but that's what I was planning."

"Good" said Dean turning the key and making the Impala jump to life "Let's go burn those bitches out."

With that he reversed the Impala back, making the tyres squeal and smoke a little. Dean drove like a maniac, navigating the back roads of Patterson at speeds that a lesser driver would have found lethal.

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – An Unexpected Meeting**

For the third time that day he headed down Timber Ridge Road until he was even with the woodland. Where, as he had before, he parked the Impala at the side of the road. Hannah had been silent on the trip, but when Dean got out of the car to get weapons out of the trunk she hurried out to catch up with him.

Dean opened the trunk, then opened the locked box ramming a gun under the lid to hold it open.

"Do you have a pen or a magic marker in your supplies there?" asked Hannah peering into the weapons cache.

"What for?" asked Dean, stuffing guns and ammunition into the duffle bag.

"Added protection" replied Hannah cryptically.

Dean looked at her through furrowed brows for a long minute before he moved some weapons and pulled out a black marker, handing it to her.

"Will that do." he said holding it out to her

"Perfect" she replied "Now show me your hands"

Dean looked at her slightly confused, but she was insistent until he finally opened both of his palms for her inspection. Taking the lid off the pen, Hannah began drawing on Dean's hands. Dean was about to protest, but when he saw the symbols that she was drawing; he shut his mouth and stood silently

"All magic has rules." she said, more to herself than anything else "If you know the rules you can play the game. Spell and counter spell, attack and defence, curse and cure….There" she said triumphantly examining her work. "Now lift up your t-shirt."

Dean's eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"

Hannah clicked her tongue impatiently at him "If they can't hurt you body, they may attack your spirit. To protect you I have to put the symbol over your heart"

Dean shrugged slightly but did as she asked, holding his t-shirt up so that she could draw on his chest.

Hannah tried to ignore the bruising that she could see forming on his chest. While the CPR she had given him had been effective, it certainly hadn't been gentle.

"How exactly does this work?" said Dean trying to watch what she was drawing and still hold his shirt up.

"A battle of magic is like a battle of chess. You can predict a few of their likely moves and counter them. I suspect to protect themselves they will probably call on the thing that dragged you off last time. The symbols on your hand represent _Eki_ or the Sun. Sorginak and the forces that they can summon hate the Sun. It won't stop them if they are determined, but it will put them off…perhaps give us the time that we need to get the girl and torch the place."

Dean let his t-shirt drop back into place and looked at the Doc.

"Do you need any symbols?" he asked as she put the lid back on the marker and slipped it into the pocket of her jeans.

She looked at him and for a moment her eyes seemed glow like liquid silver than the blue that Dean knew them to be.

"I have my own protection."

"Fine" he said, puling a can of lighter fluid out of the trunk and a zippo lighter and stuffing them both into the duffle bag.

He picked up a hand gun, loaded a clip in and cocked it, handing the gun to Hannah without a second thought. She looked at the gun turning it over in her hands.

"Don't suppose you have a rifle" she said looking at Dean hopefully "I'm some what more familiar with those."

"It's easy" said Dean wrapping his hand over hers on the gun "Safety is here. Flick it off, pull the trigger, they fall down."

"And to reload." she said looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Clip release is hear" He flicked the tiny catch and the cartridge fell out of the bottom of the gun, where he caught it before it fell to the ground. "Just grab the new clip and slap it in hard until you hear it click.

Hannah nodded her understanding as Dean pushed extra clips into the back pockets of her jeans.

"Whatever happens." said Dean realising that he was walking into this situation without Sam's support. The prospect was suddenly daunting to him "Stay behind me, and if I tell you to run, you haul ass and run like hell."

Hannah felt the waves of anxiety rolling off Dean, she was almost going to argue with him, but she knew that he was sorely missing his brother at his back and she wasn't going to compound his feeling by arguing with him, but she wanted to remind him that she wasn't without her own talents in this little scenario.

"We good?" Dean said tearsly, looking at her like he was expecting her to break and head for the hills at any moment.

Hannah steeled herself, letting the expression on her face become hard. This was not her first battle, she had fought a lot harder adversaries that this on her own and survived to tell about it. She held his gaze for a moment communicating her determination through the intensity of her eyes. Dean saw them go from blue to molten silver as he watched her, waiting for her to give some indication. Hannah nodded her head slowly and without waiting any further, Dean ploughed into the woodland with Hannah running silently at his shoulder.

Now that they knew where they were going, it only took them a few minutes to located the bridge across the creek. Dean crossed it without so much as a second glance, but Hannah paused looking briefly in the black water. Her mind flashed back to pulling Dean out of the inky darkness, and for a moment bile raised up in her throat.

Dean hesitated on the other side, looking back to see what was keeping her, but Hannah had put her own growing sense of fear aside and was already hurrying along in Dean's footsteps. As they ran along the open ground, Dean headed straight for the Farm House. Hannah cast a look in the direction of the Barn, but the massive structure just stood tall and silent in the darkness.

The two story farm house, had a porch that ran along three sides of the house. On the side closest to the creek was a set of doors, leading down to the cellar. Dean hurried in close to the cellar doors putting his back against the walls of the house. Hannah was a few steps behind him running over to the other side of the cellar doors and resting her back against the side of the house.

Both held still for a moment, catching their breath and listening. Dean looked up at the window that was only a few feet above his head. There was a dull light emanating out of it. The whole second floor was in darkness, but there was a fire or a lamp throwing out a small amount of light from the ground floor. Dean signalled to Hannah to follow him, and he scurried around the house until he came to the steps of the porch. On hands and knees he moved up the stairs until his was sitting beneath the window that looked out over the farm to the barn.

Hannah mirrored his position on the other side of the door, and both sat straining to hear anything from inside. At first Dean heard nothing, but then as he focused his attention he heard voices within. Looking at Hannah he signalled with his hands that he could hear voices inside. She nodded and pressed her ear against the side of the house trying to hear better.

"They're arguing." whispered Hannah her voice barely perceptible. It was only that Dean was watching her that he even realised she spoke.

"One of the older ones is saying that they should have finished the ceremony tonight before they get weaker, but the young one is saying that if they wait the girl will be more powerful."

"So she is still alive" whispered Dean in equally quiet tones "Well there goes plan A."

"What was plan A?" asked Hannah

"Block the door, pour lighter fluid all over this porch and drop a match."

Hannah looked at Dean trying to see of he was serious, but the curl on his lip told her he was trying to break the tension of the moment.

"Did they say where they are keeping the girl?" whispered Dean

Hannah shook her hear, still craning her hearing to pick up any information.

Dean rolled from his seated position onto his knees and started to edge towards the sill of the window. He peered in just enough to get a view of what was going on. He was looking through a kitchen that had not been changed since the turn of the century. There was a wash basin, with no modern plumbing, an iron stove and a tall wooden pantry. A door was open at the far end of the kitchen, but Dean could only make out the profile of one of the Crones as she sat in a chair, obviously listening to the conversation that was heating up inside.

"Damn it" Dean said as he sat back down underneath the window sill "Can't see anything"

Hannah could see the frustration on Dean's face and she held up her index finger, silently asking him to give her a minute. Then she let her head rest against the side of the house and closed her eyes, seeking outside of herself for the little girl. Sometimes she found that she could pick up on really strong emotion and she imagined that if the girl was conscious she would be terrified. If Hannah could just hone in on that, they would know where she was.

As Hannah dropped every mental shield that she had created for herself, she was swamped by the emotions around her. She felt Dean's anticipation, his tension and his frustration. She could feel the anger and the hate of the sisters in the living room and like a tiny island in a sea of malice, she found a tiny point of fear, although it wasn't just fear it was absolute terror. Hannah narrowed her focus in on that point until she had a really good sense of where the little girl was in the house. Unfortunately she was in the centre of the living room surrounded on all sides by the feuding sisters.

"I have her" whispered Hannah without opening her eyes "She's in the living room."

Dean clicked his tongue in annoyance. Then an idea struck him. "Can you talk to her?"

"Not without tipping off the Sorginak that we are here." she replied, her instincts telling her that the swell of power required for that sort of thing would probably advertise their presence.

"Ok" said Dean looking around "We'll have to sneak in and take them by surprise?"

"Dean" Hannah said her face becoming deathly serious "When we go in, I'm going to instruct the little girl to run to you, when you have her get out. I am fairly certain that I can hold them in there, while we set fire to the house."

"Oh really" said Dean rather dubiously "How?"

"Mind over matter my friend" said Hannah with a provocative smile "Mind over matter"

Dean scurried passed her on all fours muttering to himself slightly "I'm out of it for a little while, and everyone gets delusions of grandeur!"

Dean switched the safety off on his gun and watched as Hannah did the same. He tested the door and to his surprise it was unlocked. Perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised, pity the damn fool who broke into this house. He slipped silently into the house, holding the door for Hannah who slipped in behind him. They edged along the wall until they were one of the entrances to the kitchen. Like most house of it's error the farm house had a couple of entrances to each room and to have any chance of surviving it, Dean knew that they had to cover as many of the doorways as they could, to protect their escape route and block the witches from coming out or getting behind him.

Dean signed to Hannah that he was going to go to that lead to the hall while she should go to the door that lead to the kitchen. He held up all five fingers opening and closing them twice to indicate a 10 count, and then he started counting as he watched her move into position. Hannah once again reached out with her consciousness to the little girl, who she could see know was cowering against the opposite wall. Once she had finished her count down, she compelled the girl mentally to run towards Dean.

At the very same moment, Dean called out 'Now' from the hall. Hannah spun into the room, shooting as many as she could. She was aware of a barrage of bullets coming from the doorway that Dean was coming through, but she couldn't look at him she was so concerned with what she was doing. She saw the scurry of movement and knew that the girl, despite her terror, had followed the suggestion that Hannah had forcibly pushed into her mind and was now running towards the door where Dean waited.

Dean gave the signal and spun around the door putting bullets in the two crones that closest to his door. He was behind Hannah's position and he could see her in his peripheral vision. She had come in firing, and while her aim was a little bit wild, it was enough to take out the two remaining crones. He couldn't help but feel a momentary swell of pride. Whatever the Doc might be, she certainly had a fair amount of pluck about her.

Most of the older women had been taken out by the initial gunfire and were sprawled all over the floor, not dead, but incapacitated. However, like last time, it was the petite younger woman who was the problem. Both Dean and Hannah shot at her, but the bullets would simply hit her body and ricochet off her like she was made of lead. Dean was watching as the little girl ran towards him across the room. He held his left hand out to her, willing her little legs to run faster so that she could get to safety sooner. But before she reached him, the petite little woman began to shriek as she had in the woods. Dean felt the symbols that were drawn on his hands and chest burn, but he didn't find the piercing voice that that little witch used now nearly as incapacitating as before.

The little girl was reaching for him, but before he could get a hold of her, her progress to him was halted by some unseen force. Her feet ran against the floor and her arms reached wildly for him but slowly she was being pulled backwards. Dean looked up at the young witch who, while still screaming, was starting to pull the girl towards her like she was on some invisible rope. Dean looked helplessly to Hannah, but her attention was elsewhere.

Hannah had spotted the grimoire on a table next to a chair by the fire place, everything else was forgotten as she reached out to it with her mind, willing it into her hands. The young witches head snapped up, newly alert at the attempt on her source of power. She reached out with her magic to grab for the book, but she couldn't hold the wilful child and fight for the book at the same time, so with and anguished cry she made her choice.

The little girl flew into Dean's arms with such force, that it almost took him from his feet. He watched on in awe for a moment as Hannah and the Sorginak battled for the grimoire. It seemed to hover in the air, not moving towards either of them.

"Doc" he called, feeling a hand circle around his ankle "Let's go!" he said kicking viciously at the crone who was grasping at him and the child.

"Dean" he heard Hannah yell to him above the din that he realised was now roaring in his ears. "Throw me the lighter fluid."

Dean didn't question. He didn't argue, Hannah had issued her last request like it was an order and he knew how to follow orders, he had been trained to do that since he was five. Dropping his gun he thrust his hand into the duffle on his shoulder, manoeuvring the child that now had a death grip around his neck. The tin of lighter fluid arched across the room but before it started to fall, it was suspended in the air almost level with the grimoire, as if it too had been included in this magical tug of war.

"Get out." cried Hannah, she didn't look at him, but she waved madly with her hand for him to make his get away. "Get out now."

"I'm not leaving you." he called back inching closer towards her.

Hannah turned to look at him, she still held her hand up to control the grimoire, but her molten silver eyes turned to look at him. There was a mask of calm settled on her face, an understanding of the inevitability of what was going to happen and a resolve that Dean could not question.

"Go" she said, but not with her lips. Dean heard it in his mind, a gentle push on his resolve that seemed to hit him in his forehead and spread through his consciousness. He took two backward steps towards the door his eyes still on the Doc as she battled for control, then he turned and ran down the hall.

For a brief moment Hannah let go of the grimoire and the Sorginak nearly fell over, the release was so intense and unexpected. Hannah turned her full attention to the tin full of lighter fluid and with resolve she sent it hurtling into the fire that burned in the fire place. The preternatural explosion engulfed the room and ran through the house with such force that it knocked Dean of his feet as he hit the porch. He tumbled awkwardly down the stairs trying desperately to shield the child in his arms and when he hit the bottom, he didn't wait. The heat on his back told him that the house was well and truly ablaze.

He ran out towards the barn only turning when the intensity of the heat meant that he could look on the blaze without having to shield his eye. The little girl still clung to him and he could feel sobs course through her tiny body. He stroked a hand absently down her head as he studied the inferno that was now the farm house. Understanding hit him, nothing could have survived in there. The Doc had sacrificed herself for his life and the life of the child he now held in his arms.

Dean was nearly doubled over as grief struck him. He had only known the Doc for day or so, but he had never wanted anyone to sacrifice for him like that. His father had done it once to save his life and the knowledge of that had nearly crippled Dean, now someone who was a complete stranger had also done it for him and he felt decidedly unworthy. He watched the flames as the smoke stung his eye, causing tears to course down his face. He could hear the horse in the barn whinnying like a high pitched scream, but he ignored it. The fates had not been kind to Dean Winchester and he found himself wondering what he had done to deserve this continued battering as they seemed to conspire against him at every turn.

As he thought on his life, of his brother and his father and of the little girl he held in his arms, he caught sight of movement deep within the flames. Dean rubbed at his eyes trying to get the tears and smoke out of them. He strained and studied the flames. Without doubt there was movement within them. Dean felt his gut twist and bile climbed up the back of his throat. There was no way in the world that any of those evil bitches was making it through tonight.

He tried setting the little girl down so that he could take care of what ever was coming out of this fire, but she clung to him, her grip like iron and she would not be cajoled or even forcibly removed from around his neck. So he reached into his duffle, pulled out the second gun that he carried and starting to walk towards the house, as close as the searing flames would let him. The closer he got, the clearer the vision in the flames began. The flames seemed to bend around her as she walked, but the wind from the flames made her hair billow around her, and she clutched something to her chest.

The closer Dean got, the more he had time to study the figure as it walked from the flames. The figure was tall, taller than he remembered her being. And she was wearing pants...none of the Sorginak had been wearing pants. Realisation swamped Dean and lowering his gun he hurried forward.

"Doc" he called to her "Doc, are you alright?"

Hannah's eyes met Dean's as she walked with jilted steps down from the flaming porch, from this distance he could see that blood poured from her nose and her eyes seemed wild and unfocused. Dean called to her again, but he had gotten as close as he dared with the little girl still attached to him so he encouraged the Doc towards him with his words. The further she got from the flames the faster her feet were able to carry her, like she could redistribute the energy she was using to shield herself to the function of making her legs work.

He knew the moment she would fall and was within reaching distance when she finally did go, but to have the child and the Doc in his arms at the same time was too much for Dean's battered body, so he eased the Doc onto the ground and dragged her away from the flames.

Dean knelt in the grass and allowed himself to take the first breath that he had been comfortable breathing this whole night. The little girl still clung around his neck, but her whimpering had stopped and she even chanced looking up to meet his eyes. He smiled gently rubbing at the soot on her face.

"You ok sweetheart?" He said and was pleased when she gave him a very subtle nod.

"She's a tough one." said Hannah her voice low and gravely.

Dean looked down at the Doc, who seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness as she lay by him.

"Yeah, she's not the only one" he said with mock annoyance in his voice "You know I'm a little bit pissed with you Doc."

Hannah clicked her tongue good naturedly despite the fact that she was barely conscious "Watch your language around the kids, Dean."

With a gentle hand Dean pulled her hair away from her face "You didn't stick to the plan."

"I beg to differ" Hannah groused but her eyelids were growing heavier over eyes that were now a glassy blue.

"Doc, the plan was never to blow the house to hell with you still inside of it. Okay? That's never the plan."

Dean, Hannah and the little girl sat on the ground for a short while. No one spoke, all were just happy to be alive. It was Dean who heard the sirens first, part of him was happy to be found by the fire department who must be on their way, but he knew that none of them had any explanation for this…well none that anyone would believe anyway. So he roused his body and willed his legs to stand.

"Come on Doc" he said the weariness creeping into his voice "We've got to go…now."

Hannah opened her eyes and she took the hand that Dean extended to her to get to her feet. Together they moved out of the light of the fire and disappeared into the woods just as the fire engines pulled up to the front of the house.

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 – An Unexpected Meeting**

Dean watched as the Doc ran towards the Impala, the passenger door was wide open and she slid in easily.

"I'm not sure this is such a good idea Doc. Maybe we should have taken her to the hospital?"

Hannah looked across at Dean and she could see the concern for the little girl written plainly on his face.

"Trust me" she said gently "This is for the best. Any moment now her mother will wake up and start looking for her, the first place she'll look is where I left her in the barn."

"And you're sure she won't remember us?" Dean asked watching the house dubiously

"No she'll remember us alright. Unfortunately I can't take that away from her. But I have dulled it, made if fuzzy like a dream. If she tells anyone, they'll probably just say it was a nightmare."

Dean drew air in through his teeth, still not feeling particularly good about this plan.

"It just doesn't feel right. That girl survived something in there. She's entitled to those memories, she has a justifiable fear and instead someone is just going to dismiss it as a nightmare."

A light came on in the house and a second was soon to follow.

"Well it's too late now, her mother is already looking for her." said Hannah with a tinge of regret in her voice. She felt Dean's words, thought they had merit, but there was no way that they could ever explain what had happened to that little girl to her parents and they both knew it.

Dean pulled the Impala onto the road and headed back towards the motel. He really wanted to go and see Sam, but he was practical enough to realise that they both looked like hell and they could both use some sleep.

While Hannah had been dropping the sleeping child into her parent's barn, Dean had thought a lot about her. About the power that she wielded, about the memories that he had seen, all of it buzzed around in his head like and angry nest of hornets.

"Doc, I got to tell you, what you did back there. That is some pretty scary shit." he said keeping his eyes fixed on the road.

"I was very lucky that everything that I intended worked they way it was supposed to. That doesn't happen to me often." she said in a quiet tone.

"That brain thing, where you put an idea into some ones head…" Dean let the words slip away as the implications of having a talent like that struck him.

"It doesn't work on everybody." she explained letting her head rest on the back of the seat.

"Even so Doc" argued Dean "that's scary."

Hannah looked at him as he drove his body tense and his eye fixed firmly ahead.

"Does it frighten you when a hypnotist makes people think they are chickens?"

Dean snorted, chancing a glance sideways at her "That's different Doc and you know it."

"No it isn't" retorted Hannah "All I'm doing is putting an idea in their subconscious mind. It is no different than a therapist who uses post hypnotic suggestion to get you to quit smoking or stop bitting your nails."

Hannah studied Dean as she spoke, he didn't acknowledge her words, but by the way he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, she knew there was something more to his concern.

"Why do I get the feeling that there is more to this than your saying?"

Dean sighed heavily, the images that he still had floating about his brain of Hannah killing her entire family had been troubling him since the danger to them had died. He had wanted to ask her about it, but his memory of the pain and guilt had made him loathed to bring it up.

"Doc" he started letting a long pause fall between his sentences while he gathered his thoughts "Something happened back in the woods when you pulled me from the water. I don't know what it was but I saw some of you memories."

Hannah lifted her head off the seat and turned her full attention toward Dean. He felt the impact of her scrutiny like a physical blow.

"What kind of memories?" she questioned her voice turning stony.

"I saw your family Doc." said Dean "I saw how they died."

If it was possible, Hannah's face grew paler, her lips where pulled into a hard line across her face and her eyes narrowed, but she remained silent and perfectly still.

"Do you want to explain that to me?" prompted Dean, unnerved by her sudden stillness.

Hannah stared at him without even blinking. "Not particularly" she said and her voice was hard and cold, like she was speaking to an enemy not an ally.

Dean could feel the energy in the car all but crackle with tension and the hairs on the back of his arms rose as though he was being affected by static. He kept his eyes on the roads of Patterson, heading back to the motel. He had seen what the Doc was capable of and the last thing he wanted to do was pick a fight.

"Doc, I know it wasn't you that did it" Dean said trying to calm the situation with his voice "But it would just help me understand what I saw if you explained it to me."

"You could never understand." Hannah replied in a cold voice barely above a whisper.

The Docs statement annoyed Dean and the look he gave her told her just how much.

"Why don't you try me Doc? You never know I may just get it."

"Oh, you think that you could possibly understand what it was like to be a meat puppet." hissed Hannah "Something inside of you that walks like you and talks like you, but isn't you and you are made to watch helplessly as that thing exploits all of your fears and destroys everything that you care about for its own twisted entertainment."

Dean pulled into the parking lot of the Motel and turned to look at the Doc. Her pain was almost palpable, it cloyed suffocatingly in the car, but Dean tried to ignore it so he could talk to her rationally.

"Doc, I've seen the same thing happen to people I care about. People that I have had to kill." said Dean, the last admission filling him with a kind of guilt he hadn't felt previously.

"Your Father…Sam…even Meg." said Hannah, stunning Dean into silence with her knowledge of his past encounters "They were all victims, poor souls at the wrong place at the wrong time. Me, I bought this thing into my house and then I unleashed it." her voice was bitter and cold. "I am responsible for my family's death and I have to live with than knowledge until the day I die. Try understanding that."

With that Hannah slipped out of the Impala, the night seemed to swallow her as she fled across the car park to her room. Dean wanted to call after her, say something remotely consoling, but no words came to him. He decided that he would sleep on it and try and talk with her in the mourning.

He locked the Impala and let himself into the hotel room that he shared with Sam. Without even taking off his shoes, he lay down on the first bed he came across and let sleep take him.

_

* * *

The light glinted off the knife edge straight into Dean's eyes and he flinched away from the glare as the knife turned end over end until it embedded itself with a fleshy thud._

Dean opened his eyes, the image of the Doc killing her brother having been burned into them throughout his dream. He rolled over to look at the glowing numbers of the clock on the night stand. 5:12 am…..just perfect.

Dean felt dirty, his clothes feeling stiff and slightly scratchy against his skin and every body part hurt, particularly his chest. He pushed himself up gingerly, deciding that there would be no going back to sleep now and headed for the bathroom.

He took a long hot shower, examining the bruises on his chest and ribs under the harsh white florescent lights in the bathroom. The Doc may have saved his life, but she had beaten the shit out of him in the process. Feeling slightly better after his shower, Dean pulled on a t-shirt and wrapped a towel around his hips.

Sam's computer sat on the small table in their room and within minutes, Dean had it booted up and was surfing the net. Typing Hannah's name into the search window he was overwhelmed by the number of hits that were returned to him. Most of them were from English sites; it would seem that the death of her family had been major news over there.

Apparently the Riordan's had been members of the English social elite, the group that befriended aristocracy and royalty alike. The Riordan murders were highly scandalous and as a result the press had been prolific in their coverage of it.

He read through the articles, reading accounts that told of how a disgruntled servant in the Riordan household had murdered the family with a knife, then taking his own life by leaping out of the second story of the family home.

Dean read on where it spoke of how the only survivor of the Riordan Massacre was the youngest daughter, Hannah, who was in the house at the time, but was miraculously spared. Next to the text there were several photographs. The largest one showed the bodies being taken out of Hannah's family home. There were two smaller inlays, one showing a shot of Riordan family at some society event and another, which particularly struck Dean's attention.

The photo was of Hannah; it was blurred around the edges as if it had been caught on a telephoto lens. She stood with a blanket around her shoulders in her bloodied nightdress talking with a police man. Dean studied her face, her eyes were full of such utter devastation that there was no way this was the face of the demon who had committed this atrocity.

It was almost as if the demon had cut down her family, then had let Hannah face the music for it. Dean ran his finger over the photo on the screen, briefly trying to imagine what that must have been like. Despite what Hannah thought, he did understand. He had seen his mother taken, he was the reason his father was taken….he understood Hannah in a way he was sure no one else could. The only difference in how their lives had turned out was that Dean had Sam. The Doc had no one.

Dean continued to surf the articles, reading about Hannah's brother Michael. Apparently he had a very promising motor racing career in Europe before he was killed. He read an article where Michael and Hannah had teamed up for a charity rally. The photo showed them arm in arm on the podium, holding a winners wreath. Both were smiling and laughing and just looking at them, Dean could see how close they had been. His heart ached suddenly as he considered what it would be like if he lost Sam.

Dean looked down to the clock on the computer and realised he had been surfing the web for nearly two hours. Pulling on his jeans he knew he wouldn't have any peace of mind until he discussed this further with the Doc. She didn't seem to realise, that he didn't just see the events of that time, but he felt her emotions like they were his own. Even when he dreamed of it, he had the full impression of disgust, outrage and guilt and he understood the deep loneliness that seemed to live in her constantly.

Dean shrugged into his jacket, slipping the room key into his pocket. He knew that it was still early, but people who had been through as much as he and the Doc had in the last 24 hours didn't generally stand on ceremony.

He looked out into the car park his heart sinking almost immediately. Charlotte was not in the space outside the Docs motel room. In fact Charlotte was no where to be seen. The door to the Docs room was open and Dean jogged over, hoping that there was some other explanation than the one that he feared. But when he stuck his head in, he only saw a matronly woman stripping the sheets off the bed. The woman seemed slightly startled at Dean's sudden appearance in the door way, so he smiled his most disarming smile to try and put her at ease.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where the woman staying in this room is?"

The matronly woman looked Dean up and down suspiciously.

"She checked out earlier this morning." was her clipped reply

Again Dean smiled, trying to make himself look less threatening.

"Can you tell me when that might have been?" he said hoping that he wasn't pressing his luck.

"No" said the woman tersely "She used the after hours key return. I have no idea when she left."

Dean swore to himself as he left the housekeeping lady slightly bemused. He walked back to his room kicking agitatedly at loose stones in the car park. He hadn't wanted her to just disappear like this had never happened, he needed an explanation, and he needed to hear from her exactly what happened that night. He also needed to make her understand that he knew all too well what it was she was going through.

Dean calmed himself, centring his anger into more productive energy. He had reconciled himself with the fact that he was going to find her, but first he would go and get Sam and then they would track her down together.

He took his time packing up their gear and made sure that he had everything before checking out and heading off to the hospital in Winterset. Driving in the Impala by himself felt strange and terribly lonely. He had a pang of regret that he had been unable to speak with Hannah before she took off; he was suddenly imagining what it must be like for her, alone with Charlotte and the open road.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – An Unexpected Meeting**

This early in the morning the parking lot of the Madison County Hospital had very few cars in it, but as Dean pulled the Impala into a vacant space, he noted that Charlotte, was parked not far from the entrance.

"Son of a bitch" he muttered as he took in the sight of the French blue Mustang.

As he walked to the entrance he rans his fingertips along Charlottes polished sides almost in a caress. While he was confused about her appearance here he also felt a deep sense of relief.

As Dean walked through the entrance, the nurse behind the reception desk looked up at him with a smile, but he ignored her for the moment looking at the nearly empty waiting room. Then his eyes fell on a lone figure, nursing a coffee cup and staring out the window absently. She seemed to sense his presence and turned her eyes to look at him.

For a brief second Dean saw that horrible vulnerability that he had seen in her as she had stood out in the cold English morning in a bloodied night gown trying to explain the deaths of her family, but it was very soon replaced with wariness as the Doc, set her features in a mask of casual indifference.

Dean walked slowly towards her, a gently smile touching his lips and his eyes never wavering from hers.

"Visiting hours don't start until 9oclock." she said her voice polite yet slightly aloof.

Dean acknowledged her words with a slight tilt of his head and then sat down in a chair opposite hers.

"I have to confess Doc, after your disappearing act from the motel; I'm a little surprised to see you here."

Hannah gave Dean a slightly irritated look. She objected to the implication that she had snuck out of the hotel even if it had been the truth.

"Well I was half way to Des Moine, when I realised that I hadn't told you that I signed Sam in under my name."

Dean's eyebrow shot up in surprise "So you came all the way back here just to tell me that you signed Sam in under your name?"

Hannah gave Dean a look that could have frozen the blood in his veins; she smoothed back her hair and gathered up the bag that sat near her feet.

"He's in room 312. Please tell him that I hope he's feeling better soon." with that she pulled herself up to her full height and turned to leave.

"Wait" said Dean catching her arm "Your leaving?"

Hannah looked first to where his hand had fallen on her arm and then looked into his face.

"I'm finished here and you now know where to find your brother. There is nothing left to do here." she said flatly.

"Wow, I thought I was the master of avoidance" muttered Dean under while he got to his feet. "Don't you think we better talk about this a little?"

Hannah seemed to wilt slightly at the prospect "What is there to talk about Dean?"

Dean saw the discomfort that this was causing Hannah and wished for all the world that he had some of Sam's warm fuzzy instincts. Sam did so much better at having 'talks' with people. It just wasn't Dean's style, but he knew he couldn't leave things the way that they were. It just felt wrong to watch her walk out with not another word said.

"Look" he said swallowing hard "It's only a little after 8, why don't we go and get some breakfast and you can keep me company until I can go see Sam."

"Alright" said Hannah her words slipping out on a heart felt sigh of resignation; she was just too tired to fight anymore.

Dean walked over to the lady at the reception desk and enquired over somewhere they might get some breakfast and she pointed them to a diner a block down from the hospital.

They walked in silence, but Dean took the opportunity to watch Hannah. She held herself, upright her head held high. He clothes were beautifully tailored and smart and her hair had been neatly pulled back into a chignon at the back of her head. She had tried to cover up the dark circles under her eyes with flawless makeup, but Dean saw through it.

In fact he saw through the whole façade. The beautifully tailored clothes were her armour and the flawless makeup and hair was her war paint. Hannah made herself the picture of perfection to the outside world to hide the frightened woman who had stood in the bloodied night gown. It was almost like she recognised that they lived in a completely chaotic world and she was exercising as much control over herself to help her face that chaos. Dean saw it and recognised it for what it was, which surprised him, he wasn't normally that insightful with anyone other than Sam.

Dean held the door for Hannah and followed her into the diner. They sat opposite each other still not exchanging a word until the waitress had taken their orders and disappeared out into the kitchen.

"So" said Dean clasping his hands together and resting them on the table "Why don't you start at the beginning. How did you come across this demon?"

Hannah sat up a little taller in her chair. "Well what I told you before was true; the demon had been bound in a book that was kept in the rare book collection at Oxford. I was using the collection to do research on my thesis and I came across this book. It was 9th century, copied from and earlier document by a Monk from Glastonbury Abbey. I think it was intended to be a record of local traditions and ritual, but it was so detailed it effectively became a grimoire."

Brushing an imaginary stray hair from her face, Hannah resettled in her chair as if the words that she was about to say was actually causing her physical discomfort.

"I poured over this book for weeks. The workmanship in the illumination was beautiful. After a while when I was studying it, I could here the words on the page in my head. I thought it was just something that I had started doing because I had been researching by myself for too long, but it wasn't."

"The Demon?" questioned Dean hoping that if he interacted it might make the telling of this tale easier. Hannah nodded her head slowly.

"Then I began to hear the voice when I wasn't with the book. In my sleep, in class almost incessantly, I thought I was going insane."

Hannah smiled then laughing slightly to herself "I wouldn't have been the first PhD student to loose it while they were doing their thesis."

"What would it say?" questioned Dean

"It would whisper ideas to me." said Hannah "Try and make me do things I knew I didn't want to do, but it got to the point where I just couldn't ignore it anymore. Eventually I did what it asked and I stole the book from the collection. The longer I had the book the louder the voice grew, until it wasn't just a voice, it was something more."

Hannah swallowed hard and looked up at Dean expecting to find judgement or ridicule; instead she found that he was just listening intently.

"Before long I would have blackouts and I'd wake up in strange places having no idea how I got there or why. This happened for a couple of months and then it got worse, sometimes I would just do and say things and I knew it wasn't me speaking. It was like whatever I had let in was growing stronger."

Again Hannah looked up to gage Dean's reaction.

"It was my research." she said, the words almost catching in her throat. "Studying all of these rituals and spells was making it stronger and by the time I submitted my research I was more demon than human."

Dean sat up straight in the booth; he was troubled at how the Doc was identifying with the demon.

"You understand Doc, that it wasn't you." he said vehemently "It was never you."

Hannah smiled, but it was terribly sad. "My head understands it, but my heart just can't quite grasp the concept."

"So what happened Doc? How'd you get rid of it?"

"It underestimated me. I had been studying the rituals and rites for years and I knew everything that it did. I realised that I could protect certain areas of my mind and memory by meditating on certain symbols and incantations. Even when it had control of my body, it never had complete control of my mind."

"That must have really pissed it off." said Dean watching Hannah closely, despite her façade, Dean was beginning to see the severity of the wounds that that Doc carried and they were still raw from her ordeal.

"You saw first hand how it liked to punish me." she said quietly unable to meet Dean's eye.

And there it was; the explanation that Dean had been longing for. That little bit of information was the missing piece in the puzzle that had been plaguing him. It explained the demon's motivation, it explained the Docs feelings and it explained why it had left her to face the police. It had been a vicious punishment.

"After that," said Hannah quietly "I had nothing left to loose, so I got reckless, took chances and tried things until eventually I got the upper hand."

"And now you hunt down grimoires? Are you afraid it might happen again or something?" asked Dean

Hannah sat back as the waitress delivered their meals to the table.

"I don't know" she said pouring herself a cup of tea from the small silver pot that the waitress had just sat before her. "But I am not prepared to take any chances with anyone else's life."

As they started eating, Dean watched the Doc over the rim of his coffee cup.

"So where to next?" he asked, watching a she delicately buttered her toast.

Hannah gave him a brief smile "I don't know?" she said "I'm a little exhausted so I was considering going home for a little while?"

"Back to England?" questioned Dean, some what surprised by the idea.

Hannah's laugh rang out in the quiet of the coffee shop and it bought a warm sensation to the middle of Dean's chest. It had been the first genuine hint of mirth that he had seen from her since there unusual meeting.

"No" she said taking another sip of her tea "I have a house in Rhode Island that I go to when I'm not travelling."

Dean whistled, impressed by the location of her house. Property on Rhode Island was worth a pretty penny. Even the lowliest boat shed was worth more money than Dean would see in his life time.

"Sounds nice." he said smiling to her.

"It is" she said and the look on her face told him that she missed her cottage by the sea.

Dean was bought up short by his own thoughts. How did he know that she had a cottage by the sea? She hadn't mentioned that it was a cottage, but some how he knew that it was. It was like a really elusive memory that one has of childhood or of a dream, just enough to give you an impression but always too faint to give you the full picture.

Dean began to ask her questions about her house, about the location and the views. With every answer that she gave him, Dean was amazed at the knowledge that he already had about these things. It wasn't as if he knew it as fact, but he had the vaguest impression of everything that she spoke of.

"This is so weird." he finally muttered.

"What is?" questioned Hannah pouring the last of her tea into her cup.

"Well I know a lot of the stuff that you have been telling me. I just have no idea how I know it?"

Again Hannah's eyes narrowed "What sort of stuff?"

"I don't know?" he confessed "This is so hard to explain. It's like when we were talking about your house on Rhode Island. I know that you chose a bedroom that was not the main room in the house because you preferred the view from there. I know that it is on a steep block with no garden so you put window boxes by the kitchen window to grow herbs, but more often than not the salt air kills everything but the mint and the parsley."

Hannah's mouth dropped open in slight shock at the accuracy of all of his statements. While she had discussed aspects of her house with him, she had never gone into this level of detail. Dean sat up straighter in his chair a new wave of enthusiasm making him continue.

"I know that you bought Charlotte because it was one of your brother's dream cars, but you have a GT6 at home that you prefer. I know that you got A's in Latin and Ancient Greek, but that you failed German at school. I know that you like honey, when it begins to crystallise in the jar. I know…."

"Alright" said Hannah "I get the picture."

"How do I know all this Doc?" said Dean the enormity of what was happening to him beginning to swell in his consciousness. The only other people in his life that he knew this level of detail were his father and perhaps Sam. The fact that he knew such intimate details about a relative stranger was slightly disconcerting.

"Honestly Dean…I don't know." said the Doc slightly stumped by his question and less than thrilled that he had access to things that she usually kept very close.

"Come on." said Dean easing out of the booth and dropping some cash on the table "Let's go and see Sam, he is usually pretty good with this sort of stuff."

Hannah hesitated a moment before standing "Do we have to discuss this with Sam?"

Dean looked back at her and she suddenly looked extremely vulnerable, looking up at him with pleading eyes.

"Doc…he's my brother." said Dean hoping that simple statement would say everything.

"Dean. I'm a very private person." she said quietly "I can't change the fact that you have seen my memories, I accept that…but I would ask you for your discretion."

Dean shifted his weight on the balls of his feet, uncomfortable by the Docs obvious distress. "Doc, I understand… I really do. But I won't lie to my brother."

Hannah allowed a smile to touch her lips "And I wouldn't ask you to. I'd just prefer it if you didn't volunteer anything."

Dean thought on it for a second. If the roles were reversed, he wasn't sure if he would appreciate someone else discussing his memories. He sighed melodramatically.

"Oh…Ok!" he said finally "No brining it up with Sam."

The smile that spread on Hannah's face eased all of his discomfort. That small concession was worth it if it put Hannah back at ease. Dean held the door for her as they left the Diner and he followed her out into the street.

He started chatting to her about cars, a topic he thought would be safe ground and to his surprise she became really animated sharing car stories and talking about her GT6. Dean shared the tale of his Impala's near demise and Sam's tenacity about saving it. It surprised him, he hadn't shared that tale with anyone, but somehow it felt right to give the Doc something private of his back.

She had smiled at the devotion between the brothers, encouraging them to cherish each other while they were both still alive. Dean had given her a sour look as was fitting to his tough guy image, but her words struck a chord with him. He was lucky to have Sam. Without him, his life would be as closed off and lonely as the Doc's.

Sam was just being served breakfast when Hannah and Dean made their way to the room that he shared with several other patients.

"Hey Sammy." said Dean with enthusiasm "Nice gown. Does it have those easy access panels in the back that you like so much?"

Sam looked up from the tray of unappetising oatmeal and smiled at his brother and Hannah.

"How many times do I have to tell you that it's Sam." replied Sam with mock severity "And I sure as hell hope you bought something for me to wear, because I am getting a we bit tired or walking around with my butt on parade."

"Never fear, Dean is here. I have all of your stuff in the car."

Sam looked between Dean and Hannah "Seeing that you're here, I'm assuming that everything went alright last night?"

Dean scanned the open ward looking at the other patients cautiously

"We did what needed to be done." he said in a more quiet tone.

"And the girl?" questioned Sam with genuine concern.

"Is safely at home with her family." supplied Hannah sitting on a chair next to his bed.

"Thank god." lamented Sam letting his head fall back into the pillows.

"What about you. What did the doc say?" questioned Dean poking nosily at the sling that held Sam's arm in place.

"I was a bit out of it last night so I'm not entirely sure, but he'll be around some time this morning. I'm hoping that I can get out of here today."

The three sat around chatting good naturedly. Hannah tended to sit back and let the two brothers exchange barbs putting them in their place when they got a little bit cocky. When the doctor came around, he discussed Sam's condition with his "family" and all were relieved to learn that if he was careful with his arm that he could be released.

"Well on that note, I guess I better make tracks." said Hannah

Dean looked at her slightly shocked, he knew of course that she wouldn't be travelling with them or anything but leaving like this seemed so abrupt.

"I hope your feeling better soon." she said to Sam resting her hand gently against his arm.

"Thanks Doc." replied Sam and both understood that he was thanking her for more than her kind words.

Hannah turned to go, but Dean stood up quickly and blocked her way.

"So your going…Just like that?" he said, incredulity clawing at him.

Hannah smiled at him a gentle beguiling smile and rested her hand on his arm.

"We'll cross paths again?" she said quietly and looked momentarily back to Sam who smiled at her.

"Well if you need our help…." Dean went to say, trying to remind her that she didn't have to do this on her own anymore.

"I know how to contact you." she said quietly giving his arm a subtle reassuring squeeze. "Take care boys" she said finally then walked out of the ward as regal as a dutches.

Dean followed her exit with his eyes, somewhat taken back by her sudden departure. He turned and returned to his seat on Sam's bedside.

"You Ok dude?" questioned Sam watching his brother with scrutinising eyes.

"Yeah?" said Dean nonchalantly but his eyes still drifted to the doorway where she had left.

Dean hurried down to the Impala. The doctor had finally signed Sam's discharge papers and now the tall Winchester needed something other than a hospital gown to wear. He had his jeans from the previous night, but both his shirt and jacket had to be cut off him.

Dean opened the trunk and pulled some of Sam's clothes into a duffle bag. He was fairly strategic about what he chose, realising that getting in and out of t shirts was going to be a fairly tricky prospect for Sam while his arm was still so painful. Satisfied with his choices, he closed the trunk and walk back towards the Hospital.

As he passed by the driver's door of the Impala he noticed a package sitting on the driver's seat. Dean stopped up short and turned back to test that the car was locked. He tried the handle and was slightly surprised that it was locked up tight just as he knew he had left it.

Pulling out his keys, he unlocked the door and reached in to pick up the parcel. It had been wrapped in soft fabric and had been secured with string, but Dean's trust flick knife made short work of it.

As he cut away the string, the fabric fell away revealing a pristine leather bound journal. The leather on the front cover had been worked into and intricate design the was embossed against the dark brown surface. Frowning slightly, Dean flipped through the gold edged paper that the journal held in place with neat clips.

On a page near the back of the journal, Dean spotted handwriting, so he stopped his aimless flicking and backtracked until he had the note in front of him. It had been written in the most beautiful crisp handwriting that Dean had ever seen. He smiled as he read it.

_Dear Dean,_

_It is time to stop living in your father's shadow and time for you to start your own journal. You're a good man and your father would be proud of you._

_Should you ever need help, please feel free to give me a call at any time._

_Hannah_

Dean ran his fingers over the numbers that Hannah had neatly written under her note and a smile came to his lips. Somehow she had managed to break into his car and leave this gift for him. He opened the glove box and slipped the journal inside and locked the car back up, he would call her and thank her at another time. For now he had to collect Sam.

* * *


End file.
